ON ST. NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO, OF THE ORDER OF HERMITS OF ST. AUGUSTINE,
AT TOLENTINO IN THE MARCH OF ANCONA,
IN THE YEAR 1305, OR 1306.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Nicholas of Tolentino, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, at Tolentino in Picenum (St.)
BY C. S.
§ I. The ancient writers of his Life, and the published and unpublished copies of it: whence the Acts are to be published: some modern writers.
[ ] The sacred Order of Hermits of St. Augustine numbers among its Heaven-dwellers St. Nicholas, surnamed of Tolentino, whom, most celebrated for a wonderful holiness of life and for heavenly prodigies both before and after his death, The ancient writers of the Life are enumerated, the whole Church of Christ religiously venerates on this day. The Acts of this most holy Man have been written by various authors, both of his own household and outside it, whom Ludovico Torelli enumerates in great number in tome 5 of the Augustinian Annals, at the year of Christ 1305, number 53, and in even greater number Domenico Antonio Gandolfo in his Historical Dissertation on two hundred most celebrated Augustinian writers, page 357 and following. But among these the most ancient, and those who went before the rest, are numbered by Torelli as Bl. Henry of Friemar, Bl. Jordan of Saxony, and Peter of Monterubbiano, Religious of the same Order, into whose lucubrations therefore inquiry must first be made.
[2] Tomás de Herrera in the Augustinian Alphabet weaves an honourable elogium concerning the aforesaid Henry of Friemar, writers, whom he says was otherwise also called of Germany, and adorns him likewise with the title of Blessed, and writes that he died, according to Filippo of Bergamo, about the year 1334, according to others about 1340. With this Torelli agrees in the Lives of illustrious Augustinians, Century 2, chapter 76, and in the Annals at the year of Christ 1340, from number 4 to 22, where he enumerates various tracts of his, but yet none which is entitled concerning the life of St. Nicholas or of the other Saints of his Order. But neither does the aforesaid Gandolfo mention it, nor have I been able to find that lucubration elsewhere: wherefore I suspect that he perhaps treated of our Saint only here and there in his tracts.
[3] among whom Jordan of Saxony, Of Jordan, surnamed from his native land of Saxony, you have an illustrious elogium in Herrera in the Alphabet, where he is much praised for his notable learning, for the highest offices which he happily discharged, and for the holiness of life by which he deserved the title of Blessed, and he is said to have died, heavy with age, in the year of Christ 1380. The same Torelli celebrates in the Annals at the year of Christ 1380, to which he likewise binds his death. Concerning his learning Giuseppe Panfilo writes thus in the Chronicles of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine: Jordan the Saxon, born in his native Quedlinburg, being acknowledged the chief of that number of Theologians who professed divine wisdom in Germany, obtained by the eminence of his learning not only the highest chairs in the schools of the Germans, but also the headship of the whole Order throughout all Germany. Further, among the various monuments of his piety and genius he left a tract,
entitled Lives of the Brethren, of which a double copy is extant in our Museum, one printed at Rome in the year 1587, the other at Liège in the year 1625. In this tract, which contains ascetical readings, he frequently mentions our St. Nicholas, and relates his notable deeds here and there from Peter of Monterubbiano, and in almost the same words, and sets them forth for imitation. Which indeed commends the lucubration of the aforesaid Peter not a little: for Jordan flourished no less in the praise of learning than of sanctity, as we have from what has been said, and lived in the same century in which the Saint departed to the heavens. Now the same Jordan wrote a special little book on the Saint's miracles: for in book 2, chapter 1, at the end, he says thus: Many and innumerable other miracles God wrought through the same blessed Man, which the tongue would scarcely suffice to tell, or the pen to write out, and he works them at this present day, of some of which there is a special treatise at the end of the book. But that this Treatise is wanting is noted in the margin of both our copies. For the rest, since Jordan drew almost everything from Peter of Monterubbiano, we shall take but a few things from him.
[4] Of Peter of Monterubbiano, who took that surname from the convent of the same name, situated in the March of Ancona, and before him Peter of Monterubbiano, Herrera writes this in the Augustinian Alphabet: Peter of Monterubbiano, lector of Theology, a contemporary of the divine Nicholas of Tolentino, wrote his Life in a devout style, as Ambrogio Frigerio of Bassano affirms in the Life of St. Nicholas, chapter 1, page 11. Laurentius Surius inserted it, suppressing the name, into his Work on the Lives of the Saints, and it was extant in manuscript at Rome in the archive of the Order in the time of Ambrogio Frigerio: we have sought it, but have not been able to find it. The author of this Life indicates that he gives it to the light about the year 1326. Almost the same things Torelli has at the year of Christ 1336, number 7, where he says that from that Life the Office of the Saint, which both the Church and the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine use, was put together; and he adds that one transcript of this Life was seen and read by him at Rome in the Angelica library of his Order. That another manuscript copy of it was preserved in the Siena library of the same Order, and another in the Strozzi library, we shall presently see.
[5] That the aforesaid Life was written by Peter of Monterubbiano about twenty years after the Saint's death, who wrote in the year 1326 and in the year of Christ 1326, we learn from Mombrizio's edition and from our Siena transcript. To the former this title is prefixed: The History of blessed Nicholas of Tolentino. First of his birth, which was announced by an angel, and which was composed by Brother Peter of Monterubbiano, lector, in the year of the Lord one thousand three hundred and twenty-six, in the time of the Lord Pope John the twenty-second. Then, in the chapter which is entitled of the miracles wrought after his death, and which with us is chapter 6, the author says: Twenty years have now passed since the time in which the Lord deigned to show to his faithful innumerable kinds of miracles of this Saint. Similarly in our Siena manuscript is read: For in the time of twenty years now, on continuous days, by the glorious merits of this Saint he has deigned to work innumerable kinds of miracles among his faithful. Further, from what is to be said it will most clearly appear that St. Nicholas grew famous for miracles soon after his death, and therefore the author must be judged to have counted these twenty years from his death: all which things agree thoroughly with the year of his death, which we shall show below to have been the year of Christ 1305 or 1306.
[6] But the same author casts a scruple upon me, when in chapter 4, or thereabouts, number 38, concerning the water with which a certain woman had washed the hands and feet of the Saint when he was about to be buried, he says thus: This water, kept for twenty-eight years, never felt any putrefaction, but, always appearing most clear, remained ever incorruptible. Twenty-eight years likewise Jordan of Saxony has, book 2, chapter 11, where he sets forth the same things: from which it would follow that this Life was written some years later. Torelli also thinks that it was done later, namely after 31 years, as may be read at the year of Christ 1336, number 7. But I should prefer to suspect that eight years were added to the former twenty by someone who, when he was copying Peter's tract after so many more years, knew that that water was not yet corrupted. Yet I do not wish to contend much for this, since it matters little whether it was composed a few years earlier or later: but from what is to be said it will appear that the former reckoning coheres excellently with the year of his death.
[7] and he could have known the Saint. From what has been said thus far we hold that the biographer was contemporary with the Saint, and could even have lived together with him, as Torelli just cited writes, although the author nowhere hints at it. However that may be, we do not doubt that he learned very many things from the very companions of St. Nicholas; for in chapter 1, number 6, reporting the marvellous vision of Jesus appearing in the most august Sacrament of the Eucharist to Nicholas when he had not yet passed out of boyhood, he speaks thus: For I heard from a certain brother, who most devoutly served the holy Man in his infirmities, that when there was talk among them of the innocence of little children, the holy Man himself thus addressed the Brother, etc. But as he received this vision from his companion, so also he must be said without doubt to have learned other things from the same and from others. Nicolaus de Tombeur, of the same Order, licentiate of sacred Theology, in the prologue to the Life of St. Nicholas judges that the aforesaid Peter more probably put together this tract on the occasion of the examination of the Saint's deeds and miracles commissioned for his canonization by Pope John XXII in the year 1325, on the tenth of the Kalends of June, whose Acts we shall afterwards see to have been handed over to the same Pontiff on the 5th day of December of the following year. Nor is he wrong in so thinking: for both the time agrees thoroughly, and in chapter 6 he mentions notaries who, being hired for a fee, wrote down the Saint's miracles. Yet I do not know whether these very Acts were sent to the Pontiff; nay, they seem rather to have been written for private use (at least as regards the miracles), as seems to be gathered from the closing clause of the Siena manuscript, in which the author says that he drew the miracles which he reports from the writings of notaries, but omitted many for the avoiding of tedium; which certainly he would not have done, if he had been labouring for a Process to be sent to the Pontiff.
[8] Published and unpublished copies of this Life: Laurentius Surius published the aforesaid Acts, but with the style polished where it seemed good, and with the omission of the miracles wrought after his death, which he hinted at only in a general phrase. He was also ignorant of the author's name, because, as he says, the manuscript codex which he used bore none. But Mombrizio inserted them together with the miracles, keeping the original style, and with the author's name expressed and the time in which they were written, into tome 2 of his Lives of the Saints. We too have a manuscript transcript of the library of the Augustinian Fathers of Siena in Tuscany, written partly by Papebroch's hand and partly by another's. To this is prefixed a prologue, composed by another than Peter of Monterubbiano, as is manifest to the reader from the florid style. Its opening is of this kind: A new light seemed to arise, joy, honour and dancing among all peoples. There was subjoined in the manuscript a discourse on the interpretation of his name, which Papebroch did not judge it worth while to copy. After these things the titles and openings of the chapters are recited, the narration of the deeds being passed over, which I think was done because he knew that it agreed with the Mombrizio edition, or at least was like it, as may be gathered from the beginnings of the chapters.
[9] There are subjoined finally the miracles wrought after the Saint's death, such as we are about to publish. which Papebroch, when he was staying at Florence in Tuscany, collated with the manuscript codex of the most illustrious man Carlo Strozzi, senator of Florence, and from it excerpted some which were lacking in the Siena copy. I have judged that Mombrizio's edition should be reprinted, because our Siena transcript, as I have said, does not contain the Saint's deeds; but from it I shall report in the Annotations whatever shall seem worth while: for I shall knowingly pass over mere discrepancies of phrasing, lest I should be uselessly troublesome to the reader with excessive observations. After the Lives and the ancient miracles, we shall treat of the Saint's posthumous glory, which we shall gather from various writers. But first of all we must speak of the prodigious effusions of sacred blood by which the Saint's arms are made illustrious, as by a certain perpetual miracle.
[10] Besides the aforesaid Siena transcript there are extant in our Museum two manuscripts, The remaining instruments: one drawn from the Utrecht manuscript of St. Saviour's, the other sent by Father Gamans, priest of our Society, which is noted as received from the notable parchment manuscript Passional of the monastery of Bödeken, of the Order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, in the diocese of Paderborn, for the month of September, folio 204, page A. Each is a certain compendium of the larger Life, with the miracles wrought after death likewise passed over; and therefore it will be of no use to us. More useful to us is a certain instrument which Domenico Antonio Gandolfo, cited at number 1, sets forth after his Centuries from a notable manuscript of the library of St. Augustine at Siena; and it is a compendium of the Life, recited by the consistorial advocate, as they call him, before Pope Eugenius IV and the purpled Fathers, when the Saint's canonization was being treated. At the end of the said manuscript there followed a series of miracles together with the witnesses deposing concerning them, etc.: but these Gandolfo left unpublished. We shall give that Report itself from him after the first Life. The aforesaid writer adds in the same place that, besides that Report, there is extant in the same library at Siena a great manuscript volume in royal folio, in which is contained the Process drawn up at the command of Pope John XXII: perhaps it is the very one from which our Papebroch excerpted the things mentioned above.
[11] The modern writers, who have written the deeds and miracles of St. Nicholas in great number, the lucubrations of certain moderns, I do not enumerate, except one or two who did so in a singular manner. Among these Battista Mantovano, of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, a most illustrious poet of the fifteenth century, sang his Life in elegant heroic verse, and it is extant in various places. The other is the Reverend Father Nicolaus de Tombeur, licentiate of sacred Theology, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine in our Belgium, who compiled his deeds from the tract of Jordan of Saxony, with some things inserted from Peter of Monterubbiano, and illustrated them with learned observations. Finally Baillet wrote a Life in French, in which he reported what he pleased and omitted what he pleased. But in his critical Table he set down the following censure: His Life, written by a certain Religious of his own Order, whose name is unknown, is read in tome 2 of Mombrizio, and in the collection of Surius, who here and there polished the style. That was not what most needed correction. It is to be lamented that no monument other than this has been produced or preserved for us, from which we might have a genuine knowledge of the deeds of our Saint.
[12] Baillet's censure is rejected. Thus he: but it must be that he did not even see the edition of Mombrizio which he cites, since
this one sets forth the author of the Life in such express words. Then why, I ask, does this Life so greatly displease him, and why does he desire other monuments? Is it because he had read one or two unusual prodigies in it? But he who knows that God is wonderful in his Saints will not without solid reason reject miracles of this kind handed down by a contemporary, or at least by a Religious of the same age, of the same Order and province. But if Baillet means that not all the Saint's deeds are recorded by him, I gladly agree: but this is by no means unusual with most biographers of the Saints, who, being intent upon their chief deeds, and especially the more wonderful, are wont to neglect the rest, nor are they on that account branded with censures of this kind.
§ II. The surname of Tolentino: his native place, parents, the year of his death, his final age, the year of his birth.
[ ] Called of Tolentino from his dwelling-place, The surname of Tolentino clung to our St. Nicholas not from the place of his birth, but from his long dwelling of thirty years, and his last among mortals, in the city of Tolentino. Now Tolentino is a very ancient city of Picenum, situated on a lofty and pleasant hill between Camerino and Macerata, a day's journey distant from Ancona and Foligno, whose foot the river Chienti washes, as Ughelli testifies in the reprinted Italia Sacra, tome 2, column 770; who also at column 772 judges that it was distinguished with a bishopric from the first centuries of the Church, which having afterwards been extinguished, Pope Sixtus V, whose Bull he recites, restored or erected in the year 1586, and first subjected immediately to the Roman Church, but afterwards to the new metropolis of Fermo; and he willed that the same bishop should preside over the dioceses of Tolentino and Macerata. But how greatly he adorned this dwelling of his, divinely destined for him, in the last period of his most holy life, by his mortal remains and by his prodigies, will appear from what is to be said.
[14] he was born in Castel Sant'Angelo, of parents The Saint's native place was a certain small town called Castel Sant'Angelo, situated likewise in Picenum and in the diocese of Fermo, as we learn from the biographer at number 1, where he says that St. Nicholas took his origin from Castel Sant'Angelo, of the district of the city of Fermo, of the province of the March of Ancona. The same asserts Pope Eugenius IV in the Bull of canonization to be recited below, and all who have written of the Saint's deeds agree. His father is called Compagnone and his mother Amata in the Report of the Life read before Eugenius IV, which we cited at number 10, and so also they are named by other writers: but the father's name is wanting in Mombrizio's edition, while in our Utrecht manuscript he is called Paimo, by the copyist's fault, as I suspect. Ludovico Torelli in the Augustinian Annals at the year of Christ 1305, number 6, names the father Compagnone de Guarutti and the mother Amata de Guidiani: but it is uncertain to me whether by the added words he meant to designate rather the native place of each, or the surname of the family.
[15] Of what fortune these were the biographer does not declare: honourable and of moderate fortune; but the modern writers everywhere hand down that they were of middling estate; which is agreeable enough to the biographer's statements. One only, whom I have seen, is Andrea di San Tommaso, a discalced Augustinian in Italy, who in part 1 of the Life, chapter 1, writes that they were noble, although they lived content with a middling estate. They were, he says, noble according to blood, but far nobler in life and manners, in which true nobility consists: they did not care to possess great riches, but were content with that middling estate which Solomon asked for. He is favoured by the transcript of the Bull of canonization which is read appended at the end of our Utrecht manuscript; for in it Nicholas is expressly said to have been born of noble parents at Castel Sant'Angelo near the diocese of Fermo.
[16] But Giusto Fontanini, archbishop of Ancyra, but not of noble parents. in the Codex of the Constitutions which the supreme Pontiffs have issued at the solemn canonization of Saints, and which he himself published at Rome in the year 1729 by command of Benedict XIII, setting forth the same Bull, reads for noble the word honourable, in this manner: This blessed Nicholas therefore, born of honourable parents at Castel Sant'Angelo within the diocese of Fermo, etc. In exactly the same way Laerzio Cherubini had read it in tome 1 of the Bullarium, whom Fontanini followed. Wherefore I should believe that this error crept into the aforesaid Utrecht manuscript by the fault either of the copyist or of some smatterer; especially since not only the other writers, whom I have consulted in a good number, but also the composer of the Ecclesiastical Office, seem to have been wholly ignorant of that splendour of birth: and the aforesaid Father Andrea, who published that Italian Life at Genoa in the year 1648, is too recent for us to assert it on his testimony alone.
[17] Concerning the final age of Nicholas, and the year of his death and of his birth, Various opinions concerning the Saint's age and the year of his death: about which there is nothing in the biographer, writers differ not a little. For as regards his age, some have willed that he lived fifty years, others sixty, others seventy, and some even eighty-one. But the year of his death Giuseppe Panfilo, from a Hermit of St. Augustine bishop of Segni, in the Chronicles of his Order, Scipione Giardino, who translated the Life from the Italian of Ambrogio of Siena into Latin, and Ludovico Zaccone, connect with the year of Christ 1294; but Giacomo Alberici in the Italian Life, Bernardo Navarro in the Spanish, and Torelli in the Annals establish that it must be deferred to the year 1305. To these last come nearest Herrera in the Alphabet, and Tombeur in the Annotations to the Latin Life, where they assign the year 1305, or rather 1306.
[18] The last opinion pleases me above all: for it rests on solid foundations, he died in the year 1305, of which the former are destitute. In the Report of the Life published by Gandolfo, of which we treated at number 10, these words are read to our purpose: Saying at the last: Into thy hands, Lord, I commend my spirit; with hands joined toward heaven, and his eyes lifted before the Cross, with a joyful and cheerful countenance he commended his spirit to the Lord in the year of the Lord one thousand three hundred and five, on a Saturday, the 10th of the month of September, that is, in his 60th year. From these words there would be no doubt that the death of the most holy Man happened in the year of Christ 1305, were it not at the same time noted that it fell on a Saturday: for in that year the 10th day of September coincided with a Friday, not with a Saturday, and therefore the Saint must be said to have died either on a Friday of the year 1305, or on a Saturday of 1306. But just as it is more credible that the author of the Report erred in the day of the week rather than in the year, so it was likewise easier for its copyist to substitute the year 1305 for 1306, if it was expressed in figures; so that it is uncertain whether we should believe the error to be in this or in that.
[19] or 1306, For the year 1306 stands the edition of Surius, in which is read: But he, saying, Into thy hands, Lord, I commend my spirit; with hands joined upward and his eyes lifted to the cross set before him, with a joyful and cheerful countenance breathed out his soul in the year of Salvation one thousand three hundred and six, on the fourth of the Ides of September. But although Surius, after his manner, polished the author's original style, yet it is not probable that he would have added the time of his death unless he had found it in his own transcript, or at least in some instrument of good faith. The same year also is assigned as that of his death in the 6th Lesson within the Octave of our Saint's festival, among the proper Offices of the same Order, published at Paris in the year 1641; but it was omitted in the Antwerp edition of the year 1674. It is therefore uncertain whether the Saint's death fell in the year 1305 or 1306: but that it fell in one or the other we cannot doubt, on account of the instruments adduced, with which agree thoroughly the things which we brought forward at number 5 concerning the time of the writing of the Life, namely that it was written in the year 1326, when twenty years had already elapsed from his death.
[20] in his 60th year, born in the year 1245 From the aforesaid Report we have moreover that our St. Nicholas died in the sixtieth year of his age; which years if we subtract from the year 1305, or 1306, there will come out the year of Christ 1245 or 1246, to one or other of which we must consequently fix his most auspicious birth. Torelli, however, who at the year of Christ 1246, number 9, following Herrera's opinion, had written that Nicholas was born in the year 1246, at the year 1305, number 9, abandoning that, writes that it is established for him from the Process that it must be bound to the year 1249, and therefore at number 50 he assigns him only fifty-eight complete years of life. Which of the two Processes (for one was drawn up under John XXII, the other under Eugenius IV) Torelli here cites, I do not perceive: but in Gandolfo, cited above, in both he is said to have been 60 years old when he died.
[21] or 1246, as is proved The words of the Process instituted before Eugenius IV we gave at number 18: of the other Gandolfo writes thus: Besides the above-noted Report (presented to Eugenius IV) there is preserved also in the same Siena library a great manuscript volume in royal folio, in which is contained the Process drawn up by the bishops Federico of Senigallia and Tommaso of Cesena, deputies and commissaries of the Apostolic See, namely at the command of John XXII; as appears from the Bull inserted in it and in the Bullarium of the Order, given in the year 1325. The witnesses who asserted that he died at the age of 60 years were Friar Agostino of Tolentino, in the order (of witnesses) the 271st, who knew him for several years, and Friar Giovannuccio his servant, in the order the 221st, expressly observed by me in the Process. That Giovannuccio was he who whispered into the ears of St. Nicholas himself at the time of his death, and at his bidding: Thou hast broken, O Lord, etc.
[22] These things are clear and set forth by trustworthy witnesses, against Torelli. and observed by Gandolfo himself in the Process: on the contrary, what Torelli here asserts he received from the report of others who had inspected the Process, as we learn from himself, when at number 5 he premises this: From the most certain reports which we lately received from those who read the authentic Process concerning the Saint's life, death and miracles, drawn up for his solemn canonization, it is established for us that he really died in the year 1305, on the 10th day of September. Therefore Torelli learned the year of his age or of his birth only from the report of others; but Gandolfo drew it from both Processes, and therefore I prefer to believe the latter rather than the former, and to bind the Saint's birth to the year 1245 or 1246.
§ III. The Saint's canonry more probably secular: the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, and at what age, undertaken.
[ ] He was canon of the church of St. Saviour The biographer, having reported the Saint's pious pursuits in boyhood and the innocence of his life, adds that he was enrolled among the canons of the church of St. Saviour, in that same Castel Sant'Angelo where he had been born. In his youthful age, he says, living so holily, he is ordained canon of the church of St. Saviour. The Utrecht transcript agrees, with the words only slightly changed: In his youthful age he was of so holy a manner of life that he was ordained canon of a certain noble church, namely of saint Saviour. Similarly the Bödeken manuscript:
Then, as time went on, he was made canon of a certain noble church. Finally Surius: In his very youth he was made canon of a certain noble church, namely of St. Saviour. The biographer has been followed by the modern writers, among whom some contend that the Saint was a canon Regular, others that he was secular. Gandolfo in the aforesaid observations calls both opinions into doubt. Neither in the Report, he says, nor in the Process have I been able to find that before his entrance into Religion he was a canon or a cleric: whence I do not know on what foundation those proceed who write otherwise.
[24] Whatever be the case with that silence, the asserted canonry of the holy Youth before his entrance into Religion appears to me by no means doubtful, in Castel Sant'Angelo: but more probably since not only Peter of Monterubbiano, but also Jordan of Saxony, who lived in the same century, hands it down most expressly, as we shall see below: nor have I found anyone besides the aforesaid Gandolfo who has doubted of it. Further, those who enrol him among the canons Regular have as their leader St. Antoninus, who in part 3 of his Histories, title 24, chapter 10, says this of St. Nicholas: In his youthful age therefore, living holily, he is made a canon Regular of a certain church of saint Saviour. Hence Gabriele Pennotto, in his Tripartite History of the sacred Order of Canons Regular, book 2, chapter 21, writing that that church was formerly of his Order, says thus: That the collegiate church of St. Saviour in Castel Sant'Angelo, of the diocese of Fermo, was of canons Regular, serving under the Rule of Bl. Augustine, at the time when St. Nicholas of Tolentino was a canon of that church, the divine Antoninus attests in the third part of his Historia.
[25] not a Regular, I do not know whether St. Antoninus found the word Regular in the copy which he used, or whether he added it himself: yet the latter appears to me more probable, since it occurs neither in our manuscripts nor in the Mombrizio and Surius editions. Then the contrary is sufficiently gathered from the biographer, whose words it will therefore be well to have briefly weighed. In his youthful age, he says, living so holily, he is ordained canon of the church of saint Saviour: but because he was altogether beginning to seek after contempt of worldly things, he began to consider what life, what Rule he might enter upon, by which he might so become a servant of God that the world should not be worthy of him. Then he adds that he chose the institute of the Hermits of St. Augustine. But now, if our Saint, when he was turning these things over in his mind, had already undertaken the Order of canons Regular, he would by no means have had to deliberate about contempt of worldly things and about choosing a Rule of life, since on that supposition he would already have accomplished both.
[26] as St. Antoninus has it. Even more clearly speaks the writer of the same century, Jordan of Saxony, in the ascetical tract which he entitled Lives of the Brethren; for in book 3, chapter 11, whose title is On leaving all things at the entrance into Religion, he praises St. Nicholas for having renounced his canonry, and sets him forth for imitation by the rest. Take his words: Likewise an example in Bl. Nicholas of Tolentino, who, when he had been ordained canon of a certain noble church, having his heart kindled to contempt of the world, began anxiously to consider within himself what life he might take up, that he might become a perfect servant of God… And so the Youth is received into the Order (of the Hermits of St. Augustine), and, the time of probation being finished, he solemnly professes according to the custom and statutes of the Order; and thus at his very entrance, desiring to lead the apostolic life, he renounced his canonry and all worldly goods, and naked and poor followed the naked and poor Christ crucified. It is manifest that Jordan is here treating of a secular canonry; for otherwise he would but ineptly praise the Saint for having laid down his canonry as an excellent despiser of worldly things. But, you will say, whence then did Antoninus learn that the Saint's canonry was Regular? That indeed I confess I do not know; nor does anything occur from which he could seem to have come to that opinion, unless perhaps the aforesaid church of St. Saviour was at some time inhabited by canons Regular, and therefore he judged that in St. Nicholas's age it belonged to them.
[27] He becomes an Augustinian Hermit: That the sacred Order which the Saint embraced is that whose members are called Hermits of St. Augustine is admitted: yet the Fathers of the same Order of St. Augustine who are called Discalced seem to have made him of their own institute: for the Congregation of Sacred Rites, at the request of the Procurator general of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, in the year 1637, on the 19th day of December, by a published decree judged that images of St. Augustine, St. Nicholas of Tolentino and other Saints of the same Order of St. Augustine, printed or painted by the Discalced Friars of the same Order with the habit which those Discalced use, must be taken down and abolished, and that it must be enjoined upon the said discalced Friars that they should not dare to do such things any more, under penalties at the discretion of this Sacred Congregation. This decree Pope Urban VIII strengthened and confirmed by Apostolic authority by a Bull given in the year 1638 on the 28th day of January, which together with the aforesaid Decree may be read in tome 5 of the Roman Bullarium, Constitution 221 of Urban.
[28] But at what age or in what year the Saint began his novitiate of the Religious life is uncertain, in what year, and at what age he did this, nor is there agreement among writers. Torelli, who in tome 4 of the Annals, at the year of Christ 1264, number 24, had written that he was then 22 years old, in tome 5 at the year 1305, number 14, makes him only ten years old, and fixes his entrance into Religion not in the year 1264 but in 1259. The same number of years, complete or incomplete, Alberici assigns to the holy Novice in chapter 4 of the Italian Life, and others: nor does Battista Mantovano differ far from them, when in his metrical Life, calling him a Boy, he sings thus of the Religious state he undertook:
Hither the prudent Boy brought his youthful years, And, becoming consecrated, is clothed with a twofold cloak: A white one lies beneath the black, and with a double covering he veils His brows; the nearer to his bare flesh gleams with snowy whiteness, The outer is dyed with black soot.
This tender age Torelli asserts to be exactly deduced from the Process of Canonization and from the Bull published for it by Eugenius IV.
[29] With Torelli's statements agree what Gandolfo observes in his annotations to the often-cited Report, in these words: there is no agreement among writers: In his youthful age he entered Religion; for he was ten years of age, or eleven at the most, as the witness who is 16th in order and three others asserted. But in the Bull of Eugenius he is said to have been brought up from his boyhood in the approved Religious Order of the Friars Hermits of St. Augustine. Finally in a certain proper Office of the same Order it is read that he was called into solitude when scarcely ten years old, as Nicolaus de Tombeur testifies in his annotations to the Life. From these nevertheless others dissent, among whom Ludovico Zaccone writes that he was twenty-one years old, Tombeur about eighteen, Giuseppe Panfilo in the Chronicles of his Order that he was an adolescent, and Herrera in the Alphabet that he was of adult age, when he embraced the aforesaid institute.
[30] The opinion of these last appears to me far more probable: it is by far more probable, for besides that so slight an age is less fit for undertaking the burdens of Religion, Peter of Monterubbiano, a writer of the same Order, province and age, not only records nothing of so unusual a thing, but even expressly hands down that Nicholas was of youthful age and a canon of the church of St. Saviour before he gave his name to that sacred Order. Consult, if you please, the Life from number 7, and from the whole series of things you will sufficiently gather that so tender an age of the Saint, when he did this, was wholly unknown to the biographer. Nor did Jordan of Saxony think otherwise, a writer likewise of the same century and Order: for he, after he had said in book 3, chapter 11, of the Lives of the Brethren, that Nicholas had been enrolled among the canons of the church of St. Saviour, concerning the Religious state he undertook, using almost the biographer's words, continued in this manner: But meanwhile a certain Friar of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine … among other words of his teaching said this: Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world; because the world passes away and the desire thereof. Which words so ardently pierced the Youth's mind that immediately after the sermon he went to that Friar, asking that he would receive him into the Order; because he wished altogether to leave the world.
[31] But the Friar did not assent to the Youth's prayers until he should ask the will of his parents, lest a disturbance should afterwards arise: that the Saint was then much older but the parents, hearing their Son's vow, being made glad, praised God, who deigned to fulfil his promises in their Son. Presently, with a few things interposed, yet with no mention made of so tender an age, he adds: And so the Youth is received into the Order, and, the time of probation being finished, he solemnly professes according to the custom and statutes of the Order; and thus at his first entrance, desiring to lead the Apostolic life, he renounced his canonry and all worldly goods, and naked and poor followed the naked and poor Christ crucified. Thus Jordan; which words, as they by no means savour of a ten-year-old boy, so they agree thoroughly with a ripe adolescent, or, as he calls the Saint, a Youth.
[32] than ten years old. In the same way as we do, St. Antoninus also understood the biographer, in part 3 of the Histories, title 24, chapter 10, where he is said, when about to enter his novitiate, to have been a youth in age, hoary in mind. With this agrees the Roman Breviary, in which at the 10th day of September this is had: Having in adult age been enrolled in the clerical service and made a canon, when on a certain day he had heard a preacher of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine speaking of the contempt of the world, being inflamed by that sermon, he straightway entered the same Order. Finally, not to be longer, in the proper Office of the aforesaid Order, printed at Paris in the year 1641, and in the other published first at Rome by command of Girolamo Valvassori, then by command of Nicola Oliva, Priors General, at Antwerp in the year 1674, exactly the same things are read. For these reasons it seems to me far more probable that St. Nicholas numbered at the least 16 years, or perhaps even more, when he entered the aforesaid Order.
[33] An answer is given to certain objections But, you will say, what then is to be said to the objections of Torelli and Gandolfo? I confess that they are by no means to be despised, and they make me not dare to hold my opinion as altogether certain. Yet it matters much by what witnesses anything is asserted, and therefore I could wish that Gandolfo had added of what age, of what rank, or of what authority were those four men on whose testimony the asserted tender age of the Saint rests. Yet perhaps the aforesaid witnesses meant to assert nothing else than that the Saint, while he was still a boy, loved and sought that Order, as in the Report recited before Eugenius IV and published by Gandolfo is read in these words: While still a little child he shunned the company of women and of boys, saying that he wished to become a Friar Hermit. This one thing, I say, they perhaps testified, or it was ill interpreted. Certainly in the aforesaid Report he is said to have entered the Order of St. Augustine in the said Castel Sant'Angelo not as a boy or ten years old, but in his youthful age.
[34] of those who think otherwise, As regards the Bull of Eugenius IV, in which
he is said to have been brought up from his boyhood in the approved Religious Order of the Friars Hermits of St. Augustine, this can conveniently be understood of the holy Boy's pious instruction among the Religious of that Order, and of the habit thence contracted of frequenting their monastery, so that he might deservedly be reckoned as it were brought up there. In the same way Tombeur interpreted both this Bull of Eugenius and a certain Office of his Order, upon chapter 4 of the Life, where he has this: That therefore it is said in the Office of the Order that he was called into solitude when scarcely ten years old; this I judge must be so understood, that from that age he felt inwardly, and expressed outwardly, that he was called by God to the life of the Friars Hermits of St. Augustine; and that among them he lived and was brought up from boyhood, as is read in the Bull of canonization by Eugenius IV; but it does not follow that from that age he took the Order, or the habit of Religion, but rather that he deferred it until adult age; as indeed is asserted by others. For the rest, in both the Offices cited by me above, I have not found that he was called into solitude when scarcely ten years old.
§ IV. Certain deeds of the Saint which are not read in the Life.
[ ] Certain monasteries Besides the Saint's deeds which are recited in the Life, Torelli and others report certain things, to which, lest the reader should want for anything, we shall give place in this section. In the Life only four places are numbered in which he dwelt as a Religious; namely Castel Sant'Angelo, in which he made his novitiate, the convent of Valmanente, which is commonly called Valmanente or Valmagnente, and is distant only one mile from Pesaro, as Torelli testifies, Recineto, called by the natives Recanati, and finally Tolentino, in which he spent about the last thirty years of his life, and died the death of the Saints. But Torelli at the year of Christ 1305, number 19, enumerates more in this manner: After making his profession the glorious Nicholas dwelt by his superiors' command in several monasteries of the March of Ancona, and by name in the monastery of San Ginesio, that of Macerata, of Fermo, of Recanati, of Osimo, of Cingoli, of Valmanente, of Fano outside the city, and of Sant'Elpidio, where he was master of novices; in which monasteries he dwelt successively over the space of eleven years, namely from the year 1264, in which he made his solemn profession, to the year 1275, in which he was ordered to go to Tolentino. Thus he, but on what foundation he does not explain.
[36] Yet we do not gather with difficulty why he will have the Saint to have dwelt eleven years in the aforesaid monasteries in which he is said to have dwelt: before he removed to Tolentino. For he so established it because he had said that he began his novitiate in the year 1259 as a boy of only ten years, and he deferred his profession to the year 1264, so that he might seem to have made it not before his 16th year, whether completed or begun. Then, since he had from the biographer that Nicholas dwelt at Tolentino for about the last thirty years of his life, he supposed that the eleven years which came between the year 1264 and the year of his death, 1305, were spent in the aforesaid monasteries. But in the preceding section we have shown that Nicholas more probably brought more years to his novitiate, and therefore we can admit Torelli's statements only as a less probable opinion. Nay, even if that lesser age were established, not even so would the time of a five-year novitiate appear to us undoubted, since in the thirteenth century the sixteenth year was by no means required for the validity of a Religious profession, at least by common law, as may be seen in Thomassin, tome 1 of The Ancient and New Discipline of the Church, book 3, chapter 55.
[37] The aforesaid Torelli suspects that Nicholas gave his labour to the studies of sacred letters in the convent of Fermo or of Recanati in the March of Ancona, by whom he was consecrated priest. or perhaps in both places, because, as he says, in both those letters were taught almost from their very foundation. But however that may be, he says it is established for him that he was initiated into the priesthood at Cingoli — by the natives Cingolo, which is a town of the March of Ancona in the Pontifical dominion by the river Musone — by St. Benvenuto, bishop of Osimo, in whose diocese Cingoli is reckoned. That he was consecrated priest by the bishop of Osimo is likewise said in the Report published by Gandolfo and cited by us above. Of St. Benvenuto we treated in our Work, tome 3 of March, at the 22nd day, and there it was said that he presided as bishop over the church of Osimo from the year 1264 to 1276: within which years therefore the Saint must be said to have received the priesthood, if he was really consecrated by St. Benvenuto. Further, from number 34 the aforesaid Augustinian Annalist narrates certain prodigies wrought by the Saint which are wanting in the biographer.
[38] It is related that he drew forth a spring, First he writes that, when the monastery of Tolentino was being enlarged, and a vein of water had long been sought with fruitless labour, he fixed a reed in the ground, and, having poured forth a prayer to God, suddenly drew a great abundance of water from the dry ground, and that a well was then dug in that same place, which in his own time, that is in the seventeenth century, continued to pour forth most limpid waters, healthful to many sick persons. To this miracle he adds another also: for he says that, while those who were digging out the aforesaid well were carrying away the earth, a huge mass of earth which supported the wall of the neighbouring church fell in, and that by that collapse the wall, already tottering, would necessarily have been brought down, had it not been upheld by the prayers of the same Saint, until it was made firm by earth heaped in again. Both miracles Alberici too among others reports, and adds that in perpetual memory of it these words are read beside the aforesaid well:
This spring shines with a twofold miracle: The healthful water, which by no art could be found, flowed forth at the tears and prayers of holy Nicholas. At his prayer too the wall of the church stood firm, which in the digging of the well had already begun to fall.
Of the same Battista Mantovano also sang thus:
I pass over (because the abundance of many matters overcomes me) how he found waters and places fit for a spring or a well, which no art had found before; and how he made healthful the waters which he found: for they have a medicine in them, and are still drunk by the sick: and how by prayer he upheld the church and the falling earth, when the deep pit of the well had made a heavy gaping, and had shifted the ground which bore the foundations.
[39] that he turned bread into roses, The same Torelli at number 36, Alberici in chapter 18 of the Life, and others, celebrate the Saint's mercy toward the poor, proved by a miracle, namely by the turning into roses, while the winter was harsh, of the bread which he was carrying to the needy. Alberici in confirmation of this prodigy brings forward a memorial which I subjoin, and which he says is read at the gate of the convent of Tolentino in this manner: God so loved Nicholas the cheerful giver that he did not permit him to be reproved for consuming, by too great bounty to the poor, the means necessary to the convent. For when he was carrying a napkin full of loaves for the needy, to the Prior who met him and searched it he showed the same filled with purple and fragrant roses in mid-winter; liberty being given him for this reason thereafter to distribute all things at his pleasure. These same things the aforesaid poet of Mantua set forth thus in elegant verse:
For he was wont to divide his own meals among the wretched, and to hold out to the needy with a secret hand what gifts he could to the suppliant. Noting this, he who had charge of the store determined at a chosen time to catch him carrying wheaten food: when white winter was wintering through the Alps, and the earth, sluggish under barren cold, was passing its idleness, weary of slow December. Meeting him therefore, he demands what he carried in his laden lap: he said (God breathed these words into his mouth) that he was carrying fresh roses; and loosening his lap, he brought forth on the instant (a marvel!) rosy flowers, such as the rose gardens of Paestum are wont to bear, when spring calls the birds to song and the fields to grass; the fragrance spread abroad in the air greeted the nostrils, and the sacred dwelling was filled with the scent. This work, this mighty zeal of piety, God the just arbiter judged should be honoured with such an honour. The superior, wondering at it, ordered the store to be opened to the Man, and power was granted him of feeding the needy.
[40] Finally the aforesaid writers assert that water was more than once changed for him into wine. and that he changed water into wine. It is well to append Alberici's words rendered from the Italian into Latin. The lofty and highest Clemency, seeing the Saint made too weak by the continual drinking of water, very often turned water for him into wine, succouring his weakness by so illustrious a miracle; as an eyewitness asserted, the reverend Corrado of Urbisaglia, in the territory of Tolentino, chaplain of St. Laurence, who, being a familiar of the Saint and devoted to him, once, eating with him, handed him a little vessel filled with the usual water; which, when he drank it, he said: You have made a mistake: how excellent this wine is, what wine this is! And when he too tasted it, he found that it was really excellent wine: and this happened not once but twice in his presence; and when he did not cease to marvel at so great a prodigy, the holy Father besought him with many prayers and by the love of God that he should speak to no one of this matter… In the old refectory where this illustrious miracle happened, these words are read: "By fastings and abstinences the divine father Nicholas so fattened his soul with virtues that he never took flesh, nor rich food, nor anything delightful to the taste, being content with bread and water alone: but the divine Clemency, having pity on the blessed Old Man's weakness, several times in this place changed water for him into wine." Torelli hands down that the testimony of the aforesaid Corrado upon this matter is read in the Process, and adds that the same prodigy was repeated not only twice in Corrado's presence, but also more often in the aforesaid refectory, and that it was painted there a little after the Saint's death, with the words which we have just recited written beneath.
[41] Jordan of Saxony in the Lives of the Brethren, book 2, He is said to have brought a roasted partridge back to life, chapter 3, recites moreover another miracle in these words: It is reported of the same that, when on a certain occasion in his sickness a roasted partridge had been set before him to eat, and he had refused to eat of it, it was commanded him by the Prior under obedience that he should put his hand to it to eat: but he, unwilling not to obey, groaned, and, lifting his eyes to heaven and making the sign of the Cross, put his hand to the partridge; and behold, the partridge, coming to life again, straightway flew away. Thus he, and from him others inserted this prodigy into the Life of St. Nicholas, although they do not sufficiently agree among themselves about the circumstances. Torelli at the year 1305, number 40, writes with Jordan that only one partridge was set before the Saint; but he affirms that it was not only roasted but even cut into several pieces, and that then by the sign of the Cross it was furnished with new feathers and flew away. Alberici records not one but two partridges roasted and brought in, and Pietro de Uzeda judged the same, who, as Tombeur testifies, alluding to the star which afterwards appeared to the Saint, sang thus:
I give birds to heaven; heaven renders me stars.
[42] as from Jordan Scipione Giardino, in the Life which he rendered into the Latin tongue from the Italian written by Ambrogio of Siena, confusing this miracle with another, which with us is reported in the Life at numbers 18 and 19, will likewise have it that two partridges were set before him, and that the Saint tasted something of one of them,
before he raised them by the sign of the Cross; and he adds that these things happened in the monastery of Valmanente, a thousand paces distant from the city of Pesaro. Battista Mantovano mentions quails, whom I judge it will not be unpleasant for the reader to hear singing upon this theme. He says therefore thus:
It were a wrong to pass over a wondrous work, heard of in no ages, memorable through long years, even to the falling walls of the world, when the last fires shall seize the whole mass of the earth.
[43] He was sick, a fever had drained his weary limbs, it is otherwise related by others: and a sepulchral pallor had wasted his rough face: you would have said, had he not for a little while breathed with panting throat, that he was a cold corpse without a mind. That force which leaps in the veins, and which throbs in the left breast, had lost its steady course like a lamp now about to die, and, ebbing away, quivered with a feeble motion. Medicine bade that life-giving foods be applied, and that powerful nourishment repair his scanty life. Therefore the dutiful hand of a diligent servant brought quails roasted, as Apicius directs. But he, ever accustomed to bridle his palate and to cheat his appetite, content with mean food, shuddered at these dainties and thought the meal detestable: long years had so made his custom. There come besides the commands of the Father, compelling him, in so great a crisis of overborne life, to eat rich food. His sick mind knows not what to do, and considers which of these to choose: on this side the reverence of the holy Father torments him, on that the pious observance of the vow he had taken presses him. He is straitened, as often as a sailor passed between the Symplegades, at the time when, driven by the blowing winds, they were wont to rush together and to crush the ships. But God, pitying him driven upon that shoal, gave favour, and drew his heart out of deep cares: for he rained feathers upon the birds, and suddenly restored their life: presently they moved their new-grown wings, and at once, the platter being shaken off, leapt through the air. By the way they saw they fly, and are borne through the open windows [*] along their airy path: the Father, and the great throng of Brethren who were present, beholding the miracles of the great event, were struck dumb, their eyes not agreeing, their mouths astonished, their voices lost, their hands upturned.
[44] nor is this miracle altogether After these things the Mantuan poet recalls certain prodigies of the Old Testament, by which he may build up belief in this one: nor indeed is it to be doubted that a miracle of this kind, no less than the rest, was easy for almighty God to accomplish; nay, a wholly similar thing is narrated in the Life of St. Gunther the hermit, in Mabillon, Benedictine Century VI, part 1, page 482, where the biographer, whom Mabillon calls Wolfher and holds to be contemporary with holy Gunther, writes that a roasted peacock was restored to life by that Saint. This miracle you have also in our Work, tome 1 of September, page 529, number 289, in the Acts of St. Stephen, king of Hungary, in whose presence it is said to have happened; and it will come to be further discussed at the 9th day of October, at which Mabillon places St. Gunther. But here it is asked whether the aforesaid miracle of St. Nicholas rests on a foundation solid enough to be admitted without scruple as historically certain and undoubted.
[45] The one thing which calls it into doubt is the deep silence of Peter of Monterubbiano, certain, nor yet who does not seem to have been able to be ignorant of a thing so memorable, if it really happened, or to have been likely to pass it over if he had learned of it. Nor is there reason for anyone here to blame Mombrizio's manuscript, as if it had been mutilated in this part by the copyist's carelessness, just as we observed in §1 that many things are wanting in the Utrecht one: for neither in St. Antoninus nor in Surius is any mention made of this prodigy, and so it was not read in their copies either. This argument is indeed negative, but is the less to be despised the more illustrious and unusual is the miracle of which we treat: for things that are more common are wont more easily to slip the memory of writers, as indeed it either slipped the biographer or was unknown to him, what is reported by Eugenius IV in the Bull of canonization concerning a certain man whose whole left side of the body a palsy had infected, and who was miraculously healed through St. Nicholas.
[46] But neither is the authority of Jordan to be despised, whom both holiness of life and erudition commend; does this miracle appear improbable. and who, since he was of the same Order and wrote in the same century in which the Saint died, could have learned some things from his own Augustinians which others had passed over. The man's sincerity Tombeur moreover thus praises: in book 1, chapter 14, treating of those things which in ancient times, before the times of Innocent III, might have been said in our Order concerning the life and manners of the Brethren, he says: In an authentic writing I have not found it: whence I have not cared to write anything of this. He praises him secondly because he took most of the Saint's deeds from a contemporary writer, namely Peter of Monterubbiano. He praises him finally because he chose to abstain from uncertain things rather than to write them, since in book 2, chapter 11, he says: Many other miracles concerning the same Saint I have heard; but because I do not distinctly recall them, I recount certain things in general. Perhaps neither did he wish to put forward as certain the miracle of which we are speaking, since he uses the word of doubting It is reported, saying, It is reported of the same, etc. Led by these reasons I cannot admit the aforesaid prodigy as undoubted, nor reject it as a fable, and therefore I have judged that it must be left undecided. But the remaining circumstances, which we have said are narrated otherwise by others, we think must be ascribed to their mere conjectures.
Annotata* that is, windows.
LIFE
By Brother Peter of Monterubbiano, a contemporary,
From the Mombrizio edition, collated with the Utrecht and Siena manuscripts.
Nicholas of Tolentino, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, at Tolentino in Picenum (St.)
BHL Number: 6230
A. By Peter of Monterubbiano.
CHAPTER I.
The Saint's birth foretold by an angel and obtained through St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra: his pious boyhood: the appearance of Christ in the most holy Eucharist: the canonry conferred on him: the Augustinian Order undertaken.
[ ] After a vow made for the obtaining of offspring, God, glorious in his Saints, when he chooses them for everlasting glory, deigns to sanctify and magnify not only the end or the middle but also the beginnings of their life; seeing that, wishing to take up to the crown of glory and honour of the heavenly country blessed Nicholas, the venerable priest of the Order of Hermits of blessed Augustine, who drew his origin from Castel Sant'Angelo, of the district of the city of Fermo a, of the province of the March of Ancona [*], he deigned to exalt and magnify his most worthy birth by an angelic visitation. Indeed, when his mother Amata, dwelling with her husband b, had advanced many days of her age, and, as though barren, could not bring forth children, thirsting for children together with her husband, like another Anna c of the Old Testament, entering a temple or church, having conceived a devotion to the most blessed Nicholas of the city of Bari d, weeping abundantly she made a vow, saying: My Lord, Christ Jesus, who canst do and prevail in all things, look upon thy handmaid with the eyes of thy goodness and grace: cut away the reproach of my barrenness, and grant that, being fruitful in the house of my husband, I may conceive a son, and in conceiving may bring forth a servant to thee, to the praise and glory of thy name. But because my prayers are small and slight in the assembly of thy Majesty, I humbly beseech the bishop Nicholas, thy saint, that by his prayers I may deserve to be consoled by thee, the Almighty, promising together with my husband thy servant to visit his famous tomb.
[2] the Saint's parents, at an angel's bidding, set out for Bari, But after this, when husband and wife were sleeping together in their bed, as they slept an angel appeared, saying: Rise, rise, hasten to saint Nicholas of the city of Bari e: there it will be told you what manner of Son is very soon to be born of you. O wondrous condescension of God! Is this perhaps a Samson, to whose mother it was said: Thou art barren and without children; but thou shalt conceive and bear a son? Samson is proclaimed by an angel, and is born, who was to deliver the people of God from the hand of the Philistines by signs of strength: this man too was proclaimed, who came to cure the souls and bodies of the faithful from pains and sicknesses by wonders and miracles. Praise then, O barren woman that bearest not: sing forth praise and hymn, thou that didst not bear, for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband, saith the Lord. Many, I say, are the children of this desolate one, of this barren one: because through her beloved son Nicholas she rendered many to be carried and nourished by the most sacred Church and the grace of Christ.
[3] Husband and wife therefore, being awakened, and made wonderfully joyful by so great a vision, where St. Nicholas of Myra, appearing presently rose gladly from their bed, giving thanks to God the bestower of all good things. And, not calling into doubt what had been promised by the angel, presently, after commending their goods and possessions to their kinsfolk and friends, they set out upon the holy journey, taking the habit after the manner of pilgrims. And coming to the sacred church of the most blessed Nicholas in the city of Bari, they anxiously paid the due thanksgivings to Christ and to blessed Nicholas. And when their gifts had been offered, they began to fall asleep on the pavement of the church before the altar of blessed Nicholas: and behold, the most holy Nicholas in the habit of a bishop appeared to them in their sleep, saying: The angel who announced to you that a son should be born: Christ has told me that I should announce to you as swiftly as may be, weary as you come from your pilgrimage to my church, that a son shall be born to you, and he shall be called Nicholas, that he may bear my name, who shall be born into the world at my obtaining f.
[4] He shall be a most acceptable servant to my Lord Christ, leading a religious and strict life, promises them a son. and, exercising the priesthood, shall offer an acceptable sacrifice to God the Father. For this is he whose life shall be ended in miracles, shining with signs and wonders. Return therefore, secure concerning your petition and concerning the angelic announcement. The most devout pilgrims rise from sleep, and, thinking themselves unworthy of so great an apparition, for the Son to be born of them they groaned for joy and rejoiced with sadness. For we are not, they say, Lord Jesus, worthy to glory in so great a grace and in such sweetness of consolation: but because it has been said to us, Return, and there is none who can resist thy will, direct, we beseech thee, our steps according to thy good pleasure, and visit us in thy promises in thy Salvation. Fairly do they call their Son Salvation, who according to God's promises was to be revealed for the salvation of many.
[5] They return therefore joyful to their home, and the man's wife becomes with child, He is born, and is called Nicholas: and at length bears g a Son, who with honourable care is immersed in the most sacred font of Baptism, and is named Nicholas by his parents. Meanwhile the Little One grew and was handed over to be taught in liberal studies h, shunning not only the wantonness of women and boys but their company, and embracing the conversation of old men and religious persons, bearing indeed in his mind that saying of the prophet: For with the holy thou wilt be holy, and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted. Moreover he received the poor most eagerly in his father's house i, came most willingly to the divine offices, and heard the word of God with desire, as though he were advanced in age. Which the men of his town wondering at, spoke as it were in a prophetic spirit to one another [*],
saying: If the Lord shall grant life to this Little One, he will be a saint.
[6] He sees Christ in the most holy Eucharist: But frequenting the church, he so lifted up his mind to his God that he was believed to have beheld Christ even with bodily eyes: for I heard from a certain Brother who most devoutly served the holy Man in his infirmities k that, when there was talk among them of the innocence of little children, the holy Man himself thus addressed the Brother: Son, such innocence is ill lost, and one is carried on to a riper age: for I myself, the sinner whom you see, while I rejoiced in that innocent age, in the church to which I used to come by custom, when the priest was celebrating l and was lifting up the Lord's Body with his hands, as is the manner, I openly beheld with these my eyes a Boy most beautiful of aspect, splendid in raiment, ruddy in face, applauding with his look, and saying with his tongue: The innocent and upright have cleaved to me: but after I was weighed down with riper age, I lost so joyful a vision.
[7] he becomes a canon: kindled by an Augustinian preacher In his youthful age, living so holily, he is ordained canon of the church of saint Saviour m: but because he was altogether beginning to seek after contempt of worldly things, he began to consider what life, what Rule he might enter upon, by which he might so become a servant of God that the world should not be worthy of him. But meanwhile a certain Brother n of the aforesaid Order was in the town of Sant'Angelo, and as a preacher of the divine word was most acceptable to the people both by his teaching and by his life. And when he was preaching in the square, where a very great multitude had gathered, among other things he said this: Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world; because the world passes away and the desire thereof. Which word so pierced the Youth's mind that immediately after the sermon he earnestly asked the Brother to receive him, who desired to leave the world. But at first he was unwilling to assent to his prayers without the consent of his parents, lest sorrow should arise where joy ought to be sought.
[8] he is admitted into the Order, His parents are asked, and their Son's perfect will is opened to them; which the parents hear willingly, and, taking up joy, praise God, who has fulfilled his promises in their Son. By that Brother therefore he is received o, and, the time of probation being finished, solemnly promising the vow of obedience and poverty and most holy chastity, he lived among the professed with wonderful sanctity and greater eagerness. This therefore is he who, putting off the old man, put on the new, Jesus Christ: for, promising and embracing the obedience of Christ, he detested the disobedience of the first parent, and, leaving his own will, subjected himself to the divine will. This is he who, desiring to accomplish the apostolic life, having left the nets of the desires of this world, and his father and mother besides, followed poverty and put on the Crucified. This is he who, loving the cleanness of chastity, crucified with nails all concupiscence and his own flesh [p].
[9] and, having professed, shines forth in virtues. For as soon as he knew that what he had promised must not be violated, and that chastity could not [q] be kept unless he chastised his body and brought it into subjection, he began to lead a life stricter even than the other Brethren. For being always intent upon fastings, vigils, prayers and hard chastisements, he passed his whole life clean and chaste amid the briars of this world's temptations. Whence, when it was asked of him how he could resist temptations and the goads of the flesh, he gave no answer: for he knew how subtly the ancient enemy is ever wont to act against man, so that him whom he cannot overcome by the vice of wantonness he may show to be vanquished by the dart of vainglory.
ANNOTATA.
The daylight had gone, and the dead of night had pressed down with deep sleep mortals wearied by the works of the day; behold, one of the Gods, sent down from ethereal Olympus, seemed to be present (God deigns with such honour to favour those whom he loves) and thus to address them as they lay: If love of offspring urges you, seek the temples of Nicholas, and call your son by his name: He spoke, and lifted himself into heaven on light wings. They wake, and eagerly tell the dreams they had seen, and with anxious minds consider what temples they are bidden to seek; for they knew of many temples of such a name through the towns of Italy, and many through those of Chaonia. They had heard of the walls of Bari, famed for great vows, and the illustrious altars of the bishop Nicholas: hither therefore they cut their way, and go aboard a ship; the shores curve inward and the walls open out etc.
p. The word propriam I have borrowed from the Utrecht manuscript: for in Mombrizio there was read, no less faultily than ineptly, perperam.
q. In the aforesaid manuscript rightly: and that chastity could not be kept.
read Anconitanæ*.
in*.
ad invicem* (to one another).
CHAPTER II.
Being initiated into the priesthood, he snatches souls from the expiatory flames: being tempted by his cousin, he perseveres steadfast in the state he had taken up: he is sent to Tolentino.
[ ] To him, initiated into the priesthood, a soul appears His life and learning therefore being fittingly approved for the future, he is taken up to the priesthood a, and is sent by his provincial Prior as a conventual c to a certain hermitage which is called Valmanente, near the city of Pesaro b: where, from the fervour of his exceeding devotion, being prompt and diligent, he celebrated Mass daily at the fitting hour. But being appointed as hebdomadary d for the conventual Mass, on the night of the Sunday immediately following he fell asleep a little in his bed: and behold, a certain soul with a loud voice and no small wailing calls him: Brother Nicholas, it says, man of God, look upon me. And he, looking upon it, and, because he did not know it as a living man when he beheld it e, striving to recognize it, but not being able, hastily asked who it was.
[11] To whom it answered: I am the soul of Brother Peregrinus of the city of Osimo f, asking help for itself and for others: whom while living you knew as your servant: for I am tormented in this flame; whose contrition God did not reject, and by his mercy assigned me not to the eternal punishment which as a frail man I deserved, but to a purgatorial one. I humbly entreat you therefore that you would deign to celebrate a Mass for the dead, that I may at last be snatched from these flames. Who answered: May my Saviour help you, Brother, by whose Blood you were redeemed: but I, since I am appointed to celebrate solemnly the conventual Mass, especially with Sunday at hand, whose Office it is not fitting to change, cannot celebrate a Mass for the dead. And he: Come, venerable Father, come and see whether it becomes you unmercifully to reject the petition of so wretched a multitude, which has sent me. And leading him to the other part of the hermitage, he showed him that little plain which is beside Pesaro g, in which there was an innumerable multitude of both sexes, of many ages, states and even of different orders. Have mercy, Father, he said, have mercy on so wretched a throng, awaiting profitable help for itself: for if you deign to celebrate for us, the greatest part will be drawn out of these most fearful torments.
[12] Waking therefore h, the holy Man, moved with great compassion for them, whom he frees from purgatory by seven Masses. with the greatest outpouring of tears began to beseech the Saviour of all for them all; and in the morning before the Prior
reverently prostrate, and avoiding boasting, he disclosed the occasion of the oracle not fully, as he had seen it, but in some measure, entreating that he would permit him to celebrate for the dead in that week. And he, presently assenting to his prayers, substituted another in his place: but he himself, celebrating for the dead through the whole week, day and night with heartfelt tears most affectionately entreated for the multitude that had been shown to him. And behold, the week being past, the aforesaid Brother Peregrinus appeared to him, and gave thanks for the mercy now obtained, asserting that he, with a great part of the aforesaid multitude i, had been drawn out of the most fearful pains by God's mercy and by his Sacrifices and tearful prayers, and had happily flown to the glory of God: Thou hast freed us, he said, from them that afflicted us, and them that hated us thou hast scattered and confounded.
[13] O unspeakable Man, whose first beginnings of sanctity and the first fruits of his merits come in the redemption of God's elect! He obtains salvation for his brother's soul. His youthful age began to be known in purgatory, whose sanctity of aged life is known to be venerated in the world: already the ship of his merits ploughs the sea of purgatory, and by prayers cleaves as with a ploughshare the earth of this world of the power given him; who not only stripped purgatory by his merits, but seems also to despoil hell by the prayers of his piety. For when he was living as a conventual in the city of Recanati k, a sorrowing messenger from his brother's house came to him, who, as soon as he sees the holy Man, falling to the ground on his knees, weeping and crying out loudly, said: Where are your prayers, where your powers, most holy Nicholas? Behold, the soul and body of your brother l shall be required at your hands; for by wicked men in the town of Aperiam m he has suddenly been slain, as though your sanctity had not at all been the lover of his body and of his soul. Hearing this the holy Man could not restrain his tears; Alas, he said, wretched man, for you are damned! The messenger therefore being sent back, he subjected himself to a heavier abstinence, praying with tears day and night for fifteen days, that his Saviour Jesus Christ would deign to show him whether the soul of his brother were saved or damned. When therefore he was standing in the church, kindling a lamp in reverence of the Lord's Body which was on the altar, he heard a voice crying out and saying: My brother, my brother, I give thanks to my God and Lord Jesus Christ, who, regarding your prayers and tearful supplications with the eye of his goodness, freed me when I was damned n. But the holy Man, fearing the wiles of the enemy, who sometimes transforms himself into an angel of light that he may the more easily entangle souls in the snares of sins, without any amazement said: Why do you tempt me, malign enemy? My brother is dead, and as God can damn, so likewise he can save. And he said: Doubt nothing now, my brother; for I am indeed Gentile your brother, just now delivered from hell by your prayers by Christ Jesus. Be comforted therefore, and be strong in the works of penance which you have begun: for your works are so pleasing to God and our Saviour that whatsoever you shall ask of him you shall obtain, and while you live you shall be greatly o glorious in this in which I am.
[14] A temptation, Yet the envious ancient enemy sought to circumvent the holy Man in beginnings of sanctity so most illustrious, through his cousin, as he did the man through Eve. For his cousin was Prior in a certain monastery near the city of Fermo beside the river which is called Tenna, whose name is called holy Mary of James [p]: and beholding the holy Man's poverty, nakedness, penance and want, he is distressed, and, pitying him, says: Why do you suffer so great a misery? The condition of your Order is most poor, nor will you be able to fulfil the harsh precepts of religion: take counsel therefore for your youth; in the good estate of this monastery you can rejoice with me; for, bound by the tie of kinship, I cannot any longer behold so great a misery in your youth.
[15] refreshed by a heavenly vision, he overcomes, and is sent to Tolentino. But the holy Man, recognizing the dart of temptation, took up in the church of the said monastery [q] a most devout prayer as a shield of defence: and the heavenly Husbandman, who does not wish those who put their hands to his plough to look back, straightway granted to him, as with bended knees and hands lifted up he said, Direct, O Lord, my way in thy sight, a saving shield of good will against the said dart of temptation. For presently in the same church and in the place where he was praying, twenty young men in two choirs as it were, clothed in white garments and with shining faces, stood by him together, crying out thrice with one voice: At Tolentino, at Tolentino, at Tolentino shall be your end [r]: and in the calling wherein you have been called, do you remain; for in it shall be your salvation. And he understood in spirit that he had not seen men, but rather that the Spirit of God [*] had admonished him, as he himself long afterwards simply revealed to the Brethren, foretelling namely that he would die there. Moreover, as is written more fully below, however much his cousin afterwards strove to keep him back with blandishments, dissuading him from the harshness of the Order and urging him toward the easiness of the monastery [s]; yet he could not move his mind, whether by deterring him with harsh things or by soothing him with prosperous ones, since he already despised all temporal things, but he hastened swiftly to Tolentino according to the divine oracle [t].
ANNOTATA.
Of this place Battista Mantovano sang thus:
Issuing from the lofty inner recesses of the Apennine, the Tenna glides down to the sea beneath the high walls of Fermo, and on its banks there once stood a city most famous of that name, which with the rolling years was destroyed; but the church survives, beneath which lie rich pastures, and wool-bearing flocks, and wealthy fields.
Over these riches one of the blood of holy Nicholas's father had been set as head, who often began to bend his Cousin to himself with soothing words, etc. etc.
By these words he signifies that the monastery of St. Mary of James was in a town of the March of Ancona which is to this day called St. Mary of George, by the natives Santa Maria in Georgio: for in this place the ancient Tignium is said to have stood. Of the city of Fermo see what was said at chapter 1, letter a.
q. Namely of St. Mary of James, which monastery the Saint had visited either for the sake of the sacred ministry or for some other cause.
r. So I have published it from the Utrecht manuscript: for in the Mombrizio edition it is faultily read, Tolentinas, Tolentinas, Tolentinas shall be your son.
s. Nothing is read below concerning his cousin or his perverse counsels: wherefore understand these words, As is written more fully below, not of the cousin tempting him, but of the Saint most steadfastly persevering in the religious state which he had professed.
t. St. Antoninus, part 3 of the Histories, title 22, chapter 10, §1, judged that St. Nicholas was sent to Tolentino as soon as he had returned from this monastery to his own convent: for he wrote thus in that place: Nicholas therefore, having despised the blandishments of the Prior his kinsman, by which he was trying to keep him in his own delights, returning to Fermo, found his superior's obedience concerning the conventual assignment of his Order (that is, the command concerning the convent which he was to inhabit) assigned to him, namely of the convent of Tolentino: and he, as a true obedient man, hastened swiftly thither. If this opinion, to which the biographer's narrative is agreeable enough, be true, it must be said that these things happened about the year 1275 or 1276: for since he had dwelt at Tolentino almost thirty years, as will be said, he died, and that in the year 1305 or 1306, as has been shown in the preliminary Commentary.
read Dei* (of God).
CHAPTER III.
The Saint's marvellous abstinence and chastisement of the body: sicknesses and miraculous healings: temptations overcome: conflicts with demons.
[ ] Wasted by a marvellous abstinence, The enemy of the human race therefore seeks to violate the holy man's affection, who, by the help of our Lord and Saviour, passed marvellously on to advancement. For if the Lord tries the elect as gold in the furnace, that diabolical kinship [], by the suggestion of the furnace [], was the beginning of the building, because the most blessed Nicholas had to be tried as chosen gold. But because, where the ancient malice of the devil raises stronger engines of temptation, there the divine Clemency sets greater powers, the more and more the aforesaid holy Man is adorned beforehand, defended and strengthened by the Lord with virtues, the more and more does he feel the devil's temptings a. For returning to Tolentino, as had been intimated to him by the divine oracle, he was marvellously changed into another man: for living there about thirty years b, he was never [] found to have eaten flesh, eggs, fish, or any rich foods or milk foods or fruits, whether in time of health or of sickness. Whence, when once he had fallen sick, and the Brethren were anxious about his [] weakness, they call in physicians, whom he wished to avoid, placing his hope in his own physician Jesus Christ.
[17] These, despairing of his health, on account of the weakness he had contracted c, advise that he should eat lighter meats: and afflicted with sickness, to whose counsel by no means assenting, he refused the same physicians. But the Prior d of the place, seeing the danger of his subject, often exhorted him [] to consent to the physicians' counsel. To whom the holy Man humbly answered: Why, my Prior, do you desire to be troublesome? Or do you not know that this body, which [] hastens eagerly to return to the food which once it has tasted with delight? Spare me therefore, I pray: for it is better to put a bridle on this flesh than to loosen its reins, lest [] it should overwhelm the soul in the pits of sins to be condemned. The Prior therefore, not being able [] to resist the holy Man's purpose, went to the Prior general e, who was then in the convent, and setting the aforesaid things before him, entreats that he would enjoin upon the holy Man what had been advised by the physicians f.
[18] tasting flesh out of obedience, The Prior general therefore, knowing that danger was at hand, greets the sick man, and after many and various examples of admonition commanded him under saving obedience that he should eat flesh, as he knew had been advised by the physicians. The holy Man does not dare to refuse obedience; yet he strives to loathe the flesh. He calls therefore the Prior, and says that the General must be obeyed: For this, he says, is what I promised: this I first offered to my Saviour, and to his most holy Mother, and to blessed Augustine: this is what I have desired to keep until death. According therefore to the physicians' counsel meats are prepared. Set therefore as it were between two dangers, between the vices of gluttony and of disobedience, the holy Man feels in his mind the battles of differing thoughts: yet he decides, and, taking a little morsel, tasted flesh once only, saying: Behold, I have obeyed; do not trouble me further concerning the vice of gluttony.
[19] he is suddenly healed: sorely tempted Thereupon he clung to the counsel of a better physician: for the heavenly [*] physician Jesus Christ, recognizing so great a steadfastness in his little Servant, swiftly heals g him with his accustomed foods without richness and without the drugs of medicine. Wherefore he gloried in the straits of abstinence, taming the flesh which his ill health was pressing down: for even when, besides the said abstinence, he was labouring utterly under a heavier sickness, on the second, fourth and sixth days of the week, and on Saturday in honour of the glorious Virgin, he refreshed himself once with bread and water h. But he who overcame the first parents by the vice of gluttony, and tempted the second Adam, Christ our Saviour, strives likewise to overcome this Man by tempting him. For he recalled to his memory how the other Brethren were treated in the matter of food, and how they suffered frequent infirmities, especially pains of the joints, gripings of the stomach, weaknesses of the head, and dimnesses of the eyes or of the sight, on account of the fierceness of excessive abstinence.
[20] Christ strengthens him in sleep. But being often goaded by these and like thoughts, he began once to be troubled within and to say: Perhaps the abstinence of my breast is not acceptable to God, since he has granted the devil dominion over me in so great temptations. Behold therefore, God, help me; for unless thou, Lord, help me, my soul would almost have dwelt in hell. The most unconquered Prince therefore, Jesus Christ, not willing that his Soldier fighting in the field of temptation should perish, appearing to him in sleep, said: Nicholas, lay aside sorrow and be glad; because the works which you have begun are pleasing to me. Awakened at which voice, rejoicing he said: I was glad in the things that were said to me, we shall go rejoicing into the house of the Lord. And then, being made secure in such a manner, he received the aforesaid temptations gladly and with joy.
[21] Lying sick he is visited by the Mother of God Cleaving therefore more ardently to abstinence, he is seized by a fever and falls more grievously sick, that enemy procuring it who in the flesh of holy Job had received power from the Lord, so that the soul which he could not draw by temptations to the vice of gluttony, he might strive at least to draw by the weariness of sickness i. But the holy Man, seeing himself so weak that his life was despaired of, and recognizing the devil's temptation k, frequently implored the help of the glorious Virgin and of the most blessed Augustine; and in that imploring of help he began a delightful dream: and presently it is said that the Mother of God together with blessed Augustine, of an inestimable aspect, appeared to him as he slept: gazing upon whom the holy Man, and springing forth amid thoughts of wonder, breaks out into such words: Who art thou, he says, lady, who hast come so wondrously to me, who am ash and dust?
[22] And she: I am the Mother of thy Saviour, the Virgin Mary: and by St. Augustine, and by a for thou hast often called upon me together with Augustine, whom thou seest beside me, for thy help. Behold, we now come, that by my care thou mayest receive counsel of health; and stretching out her finger toward the square she said: Send thither to a certain lady, and let her bring for thee, in the name of my Son Jesus Christ, some fresh bread [*], which, when thou receivest it, thou shalt eat dipped in water, and then thou shalt obtain the benefit of health. O most prudent Virgin, in this medicine thou rightly counsellest the holy Man: for he would not have tasted other foods so willingly in sickness as those which for love of thee he sometimes took more eagerly in health: and to show him that his abstinence was acceptable to thee and to thy Son, thou restorest him health by the food of abstinence.
[23] Waking therefore, the holy Man rouses his attendant, morsel of bread he is healed. and, keeping silence about the vision, sent him to the place shown him to ask for bread in the name of Jesus Christ. The attendant therefore, joyfully receiving fresh bread from a certain lady, soaked it with water and offered it to the holy Man to eat: who, the sign having first been made [*], and a small morsel of the bread taken, without any interval rose up, having received the benefit of the fullest health l. But what more shall I say of his abstinence, since in the seventh year of his age he began to fast three days in every week, in some measure imitating saint Nicholas, who on the second, fourth and sixth days of the week abstained from his mother's breast m. Rightly therefore does he not feel the age of infancy, who kept for himself the measure and age of young men, and the abstinence of the aged. It is no wonder therefore if he fasted thus when advanced in years, since he thus abstained when borne along in boyish age.
[24] But not only by fasting and abstinence, but by scourgings He severely chastises his body: ever intent upon prayer, and other penalties he brought his body into subjection to his soul. For being content with straw alone for some hour of the night, he rose to prayer, and chastised his own flesh with a little iron chain n; he used rough tunics, and, shunning the delights of the body, fled soft garments, ever heeding that saying of the Gospel: Behold, they that are clothed in soft garments are in the houses of kings. And he was so assiduous in prayer that after Compline until cockcrow, and after Matins until morning, and after Mass, unless perhaps occupied with confessions, until Terce; and after None, unless intent upon duties of obedience, until evening, besides the appointed hours, at which he was always first, he was always praying. But the place of his prayer was not only the oratory at one of the altars, where he now lies entombed, but also his cell, in which he had set two stones, at one of which he bent his knees, but at the other his arms, when he was weary with the excessive labour of prayer: so that, if his arms were not afflicted with weariness, they might at least be chastised by the cold of his intensity.
[25] But the devil, envying his devout prayer, troubled him not only by evil promptings, he is troubled by demons but also by harsh words and apparitions: whence, when once the holy Man was praying more devoutly in the oratory before the aforesaid altar, the devil not only put out the lighted lamp but, casting it to the ground, broke it o. And standing upon the roof of the oratory, he formed the voices of various wild beasts, and, rolling back the roof-tiles, seemed to overturn the roof: but the holy Man
recognizing that it was an illusion of the demon, pressed the more strongly upon his prayer. And behold, the most wicked enemy, entering through the door [*] with furies and terror, seized him as he worshipped, and so afflicted him with blows that for many days the scars of the wounds appeared over his whole body.
[26] he is mocked, But when at some time he was sewing a tunic for himself, the aforesaid enemy of the human race took away from him one part of that tunic; which, when the holy Man wished to join to the other part, not finding it, he searches and seeks: and not being able to find it, he said: Holy God, and who could so mock me? Truly he who is not worthy to be named, he has so mocked me. Presently at the holy Man's word the devil answered, saying: It is true; both I have mocked you and I will mock you: but I will deal otherwise with you, since I cannot thus overcome you. And the holy Man: Who are you? And he: I am Belial, given as a goad to your sanctity. And he: If the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man may do to me.
[27] and most grievously beaten. But by night, not wishing to leave his accustomed prayer, when the oratory was not open, because the holy Man had come before the hour of Matins, as he was entering [] the house of the refectory, where the image of the Crucified was painted on the lintel of the door, he is by the said Belial so dashed to the ground and laid low [] that scarcely breath remained in him. Yet he strengthens himself, and in the name of the Crucified rises from the ground; and when he wished to go on to pray, he is beaten with blows and again cast down to the ground: at length he is compelled to withdraw thence, and as he went he is violently dashed against every corner of the place that he came upon. But by God's will the noise of the demons fighting with the holy Man is heard; and the Brethren, being roused, come together to blessed Nicholas, and raise him up dashed to the ground, and, since he was unable to stand, carried him to his poor little bed; where, being straightway strengthened by Christ, yet supporting himself on a staff, and completing his accustomed prayers, he rendered thanksgivings and praises to Christ his Saviour [p].
ANNOTATA.
p. The aforesaid Alberici writes that the memory of this matter also is extant at the doors of the refectory, expressed in these words: This gate marked by the most grievous conflict of Nicholas, where, most fiercely driven by the enemy of the human race in the hours of the night, he fell lifeless to the ground with a lamed foot: but, the name of Christ being invoked, and helped by the Fathers, he rose. Ludovico Zaccone, part 1, chapter 107, notes from a certain Compendium of the Life that the staff with which the Saint was beaten by the demon is preserved at Tolentino.
Utrecht Ms.: cogitatio* (thought).
Ibid.: fortioris* (of the stronger).
Ibid.: numquam* (never).
Ibid.: ejus* (his).
Ibid.: ipsum* (him).
with the Utrecht Ms. read ad* (to).
Ibid.: ne* (lest).
Ibid.: volens* (willing).
me* is redundant.
* that is, heavenly.
read pateretur* (were suffering).
read qui in* (which into).
panem recentiorem* (fresher bread).
* namely of the Cross.
read ostium* (door).
add volens* (wishing).
* rather, he is laid low.
CHAPTER IV.
His charity toward his neighbour: the marvellous apparition of a star: certain benefits divinely conferred upon his neighbour.
[ ] He shines in works of charity But as he pleased the Lord by prayers, so he pleased the Lord and his neighbour by works of mercy. For he visited the sick, having such compassion on them that whatever pleasant thing he could obtain for them he got and gave; and he was moved with such compassion that, although he himself was unable to walk without a staff on account of the aforesaid blows, yet he did not omit visits of this kind, comforting the sick themselves with the divine words which he carried in his heart like sharp arrows. For dwelling among the sound and the sick, he could not be satisfied with continually preaching and speaking of the marvellous sweetness of the word of God a. He had compassion especially on the sick, so that for many sinners who confessed to him he prayed, fasted, celebrated, and poured forth tears [*] before God, that they might be loosed from the bonds of their sins b. He loved the poor, and cherished them by word and by faith, and obtained garments and food for them. He gladly received Brethren who were guests as angels. To the sorrowful he was gladness, to the afflicted consolation, to the divided peace, to the labouring refreshment, to the poor support, to captives a singular remedy.
[29] But he shone so greatly with charity that he reckoned it gain to die; toward his neighbour. not only for Christ, but for his neighbour. Whatever of food or clothing there was, to the Brethren
he reckoned it little, since he himself was content with little. By the grace of this virtue he sought not the things that were his own, but the things of Jesus Christ, preferring not his own to what was common, but what was common to his own, so that he might be a most complete observer of the Rule of his most holy father Augustine; who, expounding the words of the Apostle Paul in that place, says: The charity of God, of which it is written that it seeketh not the things that are its own, is so understood, that it prefers not its own things to what is common, but what is common to its own. His words moreover, because they proceeded from a heart full of charity, savoured of nothing idle, nothing superfluous; but all were full of edifying piety and honourableness. And because so great a sanctity could not [] shine to the world, since Christ the true Light never so kindles any lamp in any Saint as to put it under a bushel, but upon the candlestick of manifestation, that it may give light to all that are in the house of the Church; it was fitting [] that from the brightness of his merits some singular foretoken should be laid open.
[30] He therefore who once had shown to Joseph, son of the patriarch Jacob, in dreams the sun and moon and eleven stars adoring him, A prodigious star newly showed to the aforesaid renowned Man a most shining star, a token of his miracles and of his wondrous sanctity. For once, when he had by night given himself long to prayer in his cell, he fell asleep a little; and behold, in his sleep there appeared a most clear star, great in size, moving in a straight line, and in position not high, but as it were passing along the ground. And it seemed to him that the last [*] point of this star had its beginning at Castel Sant'Angelo, from which he had drawn his origin, and, advancing in the movement of a straight line, had its stay and end at Tolentino before the altar behind the choir of the oratory, which was at that time beside the cloister, where he was accustomed to celebrate in the morning, and often by day and sometimes by night to persist in prayer: to the sight of which thing peoples of divers provinces and tongues seemed to come together to him.
[31] appears often to the Saint, But when he had been assured of this exceedingly great sign on that same night and on several others, he was filled with a certain astonishment of mind: and because he eagerly desired to know the issue of so great a matter, he simply inquired of a certain Brother, who was strong both in judgment and in learning, about what had been familiarly seen by him. And he answered with a certain prophetic speech: Father, in truth this star is truly a foretoken of your sanctity: nor does my mind turn it into doubt that where the star completed its motion, there your body will be laid; and from the many miracles which will be wrought there, peoples who did not know you will hasten from every side to come and receive the benefits of health, and will reverence your tomb with reverence. But the holy Man, supported by the humility which was above all things in his heart, said: Lay aside this opinion concerning me, dear Brother; because I have always been an unprofitable servant of Christ: let my God himself explain it, for you do not understand my vision.
[32] and afterwards illumines the tomb of the dead man. But after a few days, when according to his wont he entered the oratory by day, a certain star with as it were a very slow motion went before him as far as the place of the said altar; and when this happened to him daily, he understood in spirit that this divine star kept something of the truth of that which he had seen in his sleep. And so when on another day he again entered the oratory, the star, as before, went before him: but the holy Man, having made the highest reverence and some prayer before the often-mentioned altar, walking through the length of the oratory, saw the star no further: but when he returned to the altar, presently the star appeared to him above that place. Being therefore often assured of this, for several years c before his death, when he was sick, and in the days in which the time of his passing was at hand, he charged the Brethren with charity that they should bury him in the said place, and should at no time and on no account ever remove him thence.
[33] O truth of Christ, never failing, and thou dost bring forth into the light of wondrous brightness the things that are hidden in darkness! For the star which went before the aforesaid venerable Man while he lived as a sign of his sanctity, thou didst show to many and divers peoples above his tomb after his death: for through many years and seasons, always on the day on which the man of God had closed his last day, many and various peoples came together from every side to honour his body, for the remedy of health; and, as before, so afterwards also this star was seen by all who wished to perceive it, directly above his tomb, like a star that does not move d: that it may be clearly given to be understood that the most blessed Nicholas not only shines on earth with miracles, but rejoices in heaven in eternal rewards.
[34] To a woman who had often suffered miscarriage But this star, namely blessed Nicholas, shines amid the dark clouds of sinners not only with the rays of a holy life, but with the glorious flashes of miracles; for his illustrious merits could not, even in this wretched life, refrain from the working of his power, by reason of the immense abundance of grace and virtue. Indeed a certain man of Tolentino, Bernard by name, sailed from the land of Pigia e across the sea, commending his wife Margaret f to someone; but she before her husband's return bore a male child sound and fair: at length, being overtaken by sickness, the child dies, and is given to burial with the mother's great grief. Which grief became the cause of such a disease that thenceforth, as often as she came with child to her delivery, she always bore an abortion. She therefore, with a grave disease, over nearly seven years becomes with child several times: but considering that she was with child in vain, since she had always been wont to bear an abortion, she groans and grieves.
[35] When the holy Man learned this, from his usual intercourse he has compassion on her, he foretells happier childbirths: and, having made prayer for several days, as though secure concerning the life of her future children, he said to the woman: Trust, blessed of the Lord, and send forth no further cries or lamentations; for straightway a daughter shall be born to you, having a soul created by my Maker the Lord Jesus Christ, and trusting in his goodness I dare to say to you that from this hour you shall never bear a son or a daughter who shall not live. But when the time of her delivery came, she bore a daughter having soul and life, and thus thereafter, according to the holy Man's oracle, she always bore living children. Which the woman, knowing to be by the power of his prayer, does not cease to render praises of thanksgiving, as far as she could, to the Bestower of all gifts and to blessed Nicholas.
[36] This woman had another daughter, named Cecca, he takes away a little girl's swelling: who, when she was a little girl, had a swelling under her chin the size of a goose's egg. At length a physician is sought, by whose counsel the girl might be cured: and, the disease being known to him, he advises that they should proceed to an incision. But the mother, fearing the danger, amid divers and prolonged groans of grief, does not know what she ought to do. My daughter will die, she says, if she be touched with the knife; but if I leave her so, being overcome by that most evil disease she will quickly end her days. But the holy Man, understanding this grief in spirit, calls a messenger, saying: Go, and inquire of that woman what is the cause of her grief. The boy goes, and returns, and set forth the cause of her grief to the holy Man. The Saint sends the boy back, and enjoins that the girl be brought to him. The mother carries the girl, and says to the holy Man: Truly I know and believe that by you my daughter is to be freed. Be silent, he says, and do not presume to say such things of me; ask God, and his Mother, and blessed Augustine, that your daughter may be restored to prosperous health: and having made the sign of the Cross over the girl and touched the disease, he said: Go, may my Lord Jesus Christ give you the consolation which you desire. But she, considering the Man's power, as soon as she was at home, looked upon her daughter, and found no trace of the said swelling and disease.
[37] But meanwhile a male child is born to the same woman, whose lips and other limbs seemed to move in some measure g: a vision granted to him concerning a dead child: on this account the child is baptized by the women standing by; but in the midst of baptizing they could by no means know that it had a soul. The mother therefore weeps, saying: Alas, I have borne a son whose soul is damned! The holy Man is constrained to visit her in her grief, that he might relate for the mother's solace what he had seen in the night concerning the son's soul. But when terrible demons stood round about, saying: Because this child's soul is ours h; for it had not yet, in departing, perfectly received baptism; but I, although I recognized myself as frail, besought God for the soul committed to my hands, that he would send down from on high an angel of salvation as defender and champion of the perishing soul: and it pleased his immense goodness to send a stronger angel, who, the demons being cast out, received from my hands the soul to be placed in the heavenly [*] seats i. Be consoled therefore, be consoled, and be not troubled at God's judgments: for it is better that you have borne a son to the highest heaven than to this feeble world; and whatever, by God's will, you have beheld of God's graces in wretched me, dare in no way to tell anyone while I live.
[38] the water with which the Saint was washed proves healthful. This is that woman who, knowing the Man's sanctity, since she could not otherwise have relics of him, on the day on which his most holy body was to be given to burial, among the many peoples who had run together to honour the aforesaid body, clinging to the bier, washed his hands and feet; and the water of which washing she reverently laid up in a clean glass, which indeed was afterwards for many sick persons the occasion of health. And it was marvellous, that whereas water long kept, settling in the course of nature, was wont to breed putrefaction, this water, kept for twenty-eight k years, never felt any putrefaction; but, always appearing most clear, remained ever incorruptible.
ANNOTATA.
the same sinners should return to contrition of heart.
Thus also St. Antoninus, Jordan of Saxony and Surius read it: Torelli, however, writes that this prodigy happened only some months before the death of St. Nicholas, and therefore binds it to the year 1305, in which he establishes that he died, as has been said. But why he substituted months for years is unknown to me. Further, from the apparition of the aforesaid star they say it came about that our St. Nicholas is painted with a star. Battista Mantovano, resting on what foundation I do not know, ascribes the beginning of this to Pope Eugenius IV. Take his words:
A star, because it was reported that the Father had often seen it, seemed good to the Pontiff Eugenius, who placed him in the number of the Saints, to be marked upon his breast with a flaming ray, a memorable sign of a marvellous event.
Thus he: but Scipione Giardino, in chapter 20 of the Life which he once translated into Latin, as written by Ambrogio of Siena, writes indeed that by the command of the aforesaid Pontiff St. Nicholas was painted in the habit of the Hermits of St. Augustine with a lily in one hand and a book in the other; but of the star he says only: For these reasons (on account of the apparition of the star) the Roman Church permits the likeness of a solar torch, or the body of a heavenly star, to be figured upon the breast of all images of St. Nicholas. But that I should the less think that that custom of painting the star is to be traced back to Eugenius, the deep silence about the aforesaid prodigy both in the Report recited before him and in the Bull of canonization published by the same Pontiff makes me hesitate.
funderet* (he might pour forth).
add non* (not).
rationabile* (reasonable).
in or a*.
rather, cælestibus* (in the heavenly).
CHAPTER V.
Various evils and diseases driven away: loaves prodigiously multiplied: a heavenly melody heard by the Saint in his last six months: his last sickness and holy death.
[ ] A woman's twisted face, a boy's burnt hands, Verdiana, wife of Compagnone of Macerata a, dwelling at Tolentino, was so weighed down by a certain sickness that her eyes and her whole face were so turned to one side that they were almost joined to her ears. She therefore, coming to the holy Man with the highest devotion, asks of him to be blessed and touched. He, moved with pity toward her, blessed her, saying: May my Saviour Jesus Christ heal you: and presently her eyes, mouth and whole face returned to their natural state. This woman had a son, whose arm and hands were burnt when through ill care he fell into the fire; nay, the fire so seized his hand that his fingers seemed joined to one another by the melting of the flesh wrought by the fire. But the mother, because from the miracle she had received she was not ignorant that the power of God was in the holy Man, came weeping with her son and asking her son's health. To whom the holy Man said: May my Lord Jesus Christ heal him; and, the sign of the Cross being made over him, at once his fingers and hand with the arm were so made whole as if fire had never touched them.
[40] he heals a woman blind from pain of the head, and a boy blind from burning Viridiana of the city of Tolentino could see nothing from a weakness of the eyes: physicians are sought, and by their counsel various punctures are made in the head, by which the disease is not lessened but increased; so much so that she lost the vigour of her head. Yet what should she seek in her anxiety? After she had not found a temporal physician, she has recourse to a spiritual one: straightway it came into her mind that she should seek the aforesaid holy Man Nicholas. And so the woman is brought to him as he was celebrating Mass, who swiftly began to pray with importunate cries that the holy Man would say an Our Father over her head and make the sign of the holy Cross; I hope, she said, in my God, that by your holy merits he will heal me. The Man is ashamed of so great a praise, yet is compelled by the importunate woman, and, having said the OUR FATHER and made the sign of the Cross over the sick woman's head, he said: Go, the Lord raises up them that are cast down, the Lord enlightens the blind. Presently her sight is restored to her, and she feels no pain of the head. Veridiana had a son of Bonione of Tolentino, who once, falling upon his face, slipped into the fire, and presently, his whole face being burnt, lost the light of his eyes. The mother groans, and busies herself to obtain a remedy for so great a peril: and not finding it, she flees to the suffrages of Nicholas: and he, by touching her son, freed him.
[41] Moreover a certain woman, Genantessa by name, daughter of Nicholas of Tolentino, A woman's grievously injured breast, when she was unwilling to obey her husband, was stripped by him and most severely chastised with a broad strap. It happened that in the beating an iron buckle struck her breast, and, wounding it violently, divided it into four parts with an effusion of blood. The woman thereupon fell into the disease of a fistula: but when the physicians' care profited nothing, a certain woman who had before been afflicted for eight days with the pain of childbirth, and had been freed by the holy Man's prayers, visits her by reason of neighbourhood, and exhorts her to hasten with devotion to Brother Nicholas. She, acquiescing in her neighbour's counsel, ran, and reverently with tears entreats the Man of God to sign her breast with the sign of the Cross. But the holy Man, seeing her importunity, having made the sign of the Cross over her, said: May he heal you who deigned to restore her breasts to the bosom of blessed Agatha b; and if the Lord shall grant you this grace, see that you tell it to no one; but in yourself praise the Physician of the world, Jesus Christ. She returns home, and, her breast being unbound, finds in it no trace of the scars.
[42] Brother John of Monticolo, an old man in the Order, a certain man's hernia, and a woman's flux of blood he heals: and conspicuous for the honourableness both of his life and of his manners, when he was pressed about the lower parts with the pain of his bowels flowing out, and could not bear the weight, being moved with the highest devotion, calls to himself the most blessed Nicholas: By the love, he says, of the shed Blood of Christ, Brother Nicholas, I beg that you do not disdain to touch this place of pain. But the holy Man, having compassion on so great a pain and shameful weight, having first made the sign of the Cross, touched the place; and without delay the bowels which had flowed out were made firm in their natural and former place. A certain woman of Tolentino, Duncella by name, when she had now suffered a flux of blood for more than a year, and could in no way be cured by medicines, is carried to the holy Man; who, bending to the importunate prayers of those who brought her, fortifies the woman with the sign of the Cross and touches her: and she, presently feeling herself freed, hastened swiftly to her own home c.
[43] A certain man named Thomas, cutting wood, by chance struck his own foot so violently with the iron that it at once pierced the sinew; he cures a grievously injured leg: and, the physicians altogether despairing of a cure, he, out of much devotion, being carried to holy Nicholas, humbly besought that he would deign simply to make an incantation d over his foot. And he, the plaster being removed from it and the wound seen, as though astonished said: Son, may God help you, cover it up quickly; and saying an Our Father over him, he ordered it to be bound up as it had been before, yet, having made the sign of the Cross, he said: Go in peace, son; for you have grievously wounded yourself; may my Saviour Christ help your faith. But he, although he did not think of it at once, yet after a little while perceived that he had recovered, and he who had come to seek divine help nevertheless did not forsake human help. The physician therefore came at the accustomed hour, and, loosing the bindings of the foot, found no
trace of the injury. And so the sick man, beholding this, cried out and said: O man of God, Nicholas, for by your merits I have today been marvellously freed from a most fearful wound! And straightway, dismissing the earthly physician, hastening to the noble father Nicholas, he gave him thanks before the brethren. He, taking it ill, asked that he should ascribe this not to his merits but to his own faith and the fervour of his devotion, and should not presume to reveal it to anyone else so long as he lived, unless he wished to incur the curse of imprecation.
[44] he multiplies the loaves of a poor woman: There was in the aforesaid town a certain man named Minalduto, living in want; he was accustomed to buy for himself a little corn according to the character of the season. And he had fixed for his wife a time and a measure as to the quantity of bread to be made and made to last []. When therefore a salma* e of corn had once been bought, and bread made from it, the woman gave one loaf to the holy Man asking alms after the manner of the mendicant Friars. The holy Man begins to bless the poor woman who gave it, saying: May God multiply for you the flour, if you have any, for love of whom you have performed this cheerful alms, poor as you are. Nor did the holy Man cease from blessings of this kind until he had come to the place of the Brethren: for the woman's house was near the monastery.
[45] But when the time was at hand for making [*] bread again, the woman goes to the chest, and finding it full, pressed down and running over, she gave thanks to the Saviour and to blessed Nicholas, since he had deigned to impart so great a power: yet the woman keeps silence, and does not open the secret to her husband. But when the time came in which the flour was reckoned to be nearly failing, like a good householder Minalduto takes counsel with his wife how corn should be bought: but his wife gave no answer, although her husband repeated the same words very often, that she did not take counsel with him about the necessaries of life. But she, no longer able to resist, showed him the chest abounding with flour, and shows why this had happened.
[46] he is often refreshed by angelic melody: being sick Not only did that eternal King declare this to his most faithful Servant in the present life as the reward of his labour; but he willed to reveal things far greater than these for the certainty of the glory to be hoped for. For indeed six months before his death, every night before the hour of Matins, he made him hear with bodily ears a most sweet angelic song, and be so delighted that he said: I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. From this the holy Man, knowing that the end of his life was at hand, soon foretold his holy death f. But since after the aforesaid scourging by the demon he had always been lame, he is now weighed down with a greater infirmity, and, as before he was supported by a staff, so now he is supported lying in bed, to which as he lay sick many came for the sake of greeting him.
[47] [he frees a woman from a long-standing pain of the head, and another from blindness:] Blanda by name, of Tolentino, when for fifteen years she had suffered a most bitter pain of the head, so that very often she could neither see nor hear, coming to him as he lay, asked that he would deign to touch her head: and as soon as he touched the woman's head and made the sign of the Cross over it, all pain in her utterly ceased g. Also, when Brother Thomas of our Order had died, his sister, turned to long weeping, wept so much that, an abscess arising in her eyes, she discerned nothing at all by sight. She is led to holy Nicholas: he, the cause of her loss of sight being known, began himself also, moved by compassion, to weep with her over the death of the aforesaid Brother Thomas: for it seemed to him that the Order of St. Augustine had been deprived of an exceedingly useful man. And so, the sign of the Cross being first made, touching her he said: May God and my Lord Jesus Christ have pity on your sorrow, and restore to you the health of your eyes, that you may see for ever the things that are pleasing before him. By the holy Man's words the sick woman is lifted up, and, withdrawing from his cell and entering the church, it seemed to her that a new brightness had come to her eyes. Then she said to her companions: See whether there is anything wrong with my eyes, who, when I was blind, now see. When she had said this, she returned home with her eyes sound as before.
[48] Because indeed it belongs to good minds to acknowledge a fault where there is no fault, pardon for his errors being asked being made nearer to death, he calls the Brethren and thus addresses them: Although I am conscious to myself of nothing, yet I do not know that I am hereby justified; therefore, if I have ever injured anyone or done him wrong in anything, judge yourselves, and spare my offences, that your debts also may be forgiven you. But to you, Prior, I earnestly beseech that you would grant absolution of all my offences, and confer upon me the Sacraments of holy mother Church; and especially give me the Body of the Lord to be received in communion, that, having taken with me so great a Viaticum, in going from this world to my country I may not faint, and, if by the demands of my evil deeds Belial my enemy shall meet me, I may confidently set it against him.
[49] The Brethren therefore standing round on this side and that, and praying together with him, and refreshed by the Sacraments, having received the solemn absolution, with a great outpouring of tears he receives the Lord's Body, saying: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. But after this, turning to the Prior, he said: That silver cross made by my labour from the alms of the best men of this town, in which the true wood of the most holy Cross was placed while I looked on, I beseech you that, before I die, you show it [*] to these mortal eyes, that in its power, as with the staff of the highest power, I may freely cross the Jordan of this world, and may happily be able to reach the river of Paradise, white as crystal, on either side of which is the tree of life, Christ Jesus h.
[50] The Prior, not refusing his petition, orders the cross which he desired to be brought: and when the holy Man had beheld it, turning himself in the bed as he could, with a flood of tears he said: Hail, beautiful cross, which wast worthy to bear the price of the world; on thee the Saviour rested and sat, and in the heat of his passion sweated with rosy blood, and brought forth mercy for the thief who implored it, and, scarcely knowing his own Mother, commended her to the virgin disciple, and at last called upon his Father for those who crucified him: may he by thee defend me from the malign enemy in this hour. And so, having kissed it, he lay as before, and calling one of those who served him, he said: See that you do not fail to sound in my ears: Thou hast broken my bonds, I will sacrifice to thee a sacrifice of praise; so that, if in this weakened flesh I cannot say anything with my own mouth, I may at least be able to say it to my Lord in my memory.
[51] But the Brethren, seeing that his memory was unimpaired, now come to him, now withdraw from him. But as they withdrew a voice of joy and laughter was heard; he dies in the sight of Jesus, St. Mary and St. Augustine. and although it was his own voice, it seemed another; but no wonder, because that voice which had been wont to praise God in hope now begins to praise him by seeing his likeness []. Whence, when it was asked of him: What is this joy of yours, Father? astonished at the vision he had had, he said: It is God, and my God Jesus Christ, who, cleaving to his Mother and to our father Augustine, says to me: Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord. And the Brethren, weighing these things [], since his passing was close at hand, in their accustomed prayers call upon God and the Saints; and as he said, Into thy hands, Lord, I commend my spirit, with hands joined toward heaven, and lifting his eyes to the cross set before him, with a joyful and cheerful countenance he rendered his spirit to the Lord.
ANNOTATA.
* that is, to be kept.
* that is, of kneading.
read ostendatis* (that you show).
perhaps speciem* (the appearance).
ex his* (from these).
CHAPTER VI.
Blindness and other ailments of the eyes driven away: the crippled made straight.
[ ] The author narrates some out of very many miracles. But the Lord a, who deigned to exalt his Saint more perfectly both entering and departing this life b. For he multiplied through him wondrous signs and prodigies to such a degree that whoever should wish to recite or write them would need the pen of a swift writer — of him indeed who wrote the stone tablets on Mount Sinai not with pen or stylus but with the finger of his own power. Twenty years c have now passed since the time in which the Lord deigned to show to his faithful innumerable kinds of miracles of this Saint, who alone does great wonders. Nay, the number of the said miracles has grown so great that a copious multitude of notaries, as it were overcome by the many marvels to be written, cannot be had even for the reward of a fee. From the sea therefore of such great graces I have thought to draw at present certain things, not all, since that would be almost impossible d.
[53] Jesus Christ therefore, the true Light, looking down from the throne of his greatness by the merit of the aforesaid Saint, A girl, in both eyes, restored to the light many who had been deprived of light. A certain
girl of Civitanova e, Massecta [] by name, daughter of Alexander, seemed utterly deprived of light by an affliction of the eyes f. Her father [] is filled with sadness, because by the aid of no medicine could his daughter be freed: he has recourse therefore to the heavenly Physician, and, not ceasing to implore the help of blessed Nicholas, presently beating his breast he wept: and not long after, seeing more clearly than before, she became a singular gladness to her father g.
[54] Dimisia, of Cacheo Enrico Bernardo of San Severino h, so suffered in her left eye likewise a woman in one eye that, being deprived of light, she had no hope in physicians i. She therefore commends herself to holy Nicholas with certain gifts promised: but because she did not stand fast in faith k, she is struck again with a more violent sickness. Being therefore corrected, she implores more ardently the suffrages of blessed Nicholas, and, the vow being repeated, presently a scale fell from her eye, and she was restored to her former light. But by the working of the ancient enemy's envy, her daughter, who was sitting on her knees, so struck with her hand the eye that had now been freed, that the eye fell out of its own place l. Again she ran to the suffrages of blessed Nicholas, and, as before, was made whole.
[55] Andriolo Merio, now an inhabitant of Tolentino, and likewise a man in one eye, are cured of blindness: the marvellous had a brother by blood, who was so struck in the eye that by the judgment of the physicians he was thought unable to recover his sight by any art m: being therefore destitute of human aid, he went to the divine, and, commending himself to the merits of blessed Nicholas, the pupil of his eye being restored, he straightway received his sight. Contenatio, son of Ugolino n, of San Ginesio o, when he had been deprived of the light of his eyes, since many were going to visit the tomb of blessed Nicholas, wished himself also to go, being moved with so great and such a devotion that, if he could reach the Saint's threshold, he hoped at once to receive the brightness of the light of his eyes. But because the charity of many grows cold, there was no companion [*] for him as he went without sight; he becomes slower on the way, who in receiving a benefit ought to have been swifter than the rest.
[56] A wondrous thing! He arrives by night, and by a heavenly prompting he sits down beneath a certain olive tree to sleep, and, having praised the Saint, cure of another blind man: other ailments of the eyes to whom he humbly commended himself, he was made secure amid the darkness of the night and the fear of wild beasts, as though a multitude of men dwelling with him stood by. But he to whom he had more devoutly commended himself, beholding from above so great a faith, in a wondrous manner bestowed upon his eyes the long-desired light. For a light from heaven shone round about him, and he who before could behold nothing with his eyes can clearly and brightly discern everything in the night. In the morning, without the hindrance of a guide [*], he hastens swiftly to the tomb of blessed Nicholas, and, his vows being paid, he commends and praises God in his Saint. Bona of San Severino [p] had a son, whose eye suffered a flux of blood, so that he could in no way see. She fled to the threshold of blessed Nicholas, and presently her son's health followed, the vows being promised and paid [q].
[57] taken away Guilino, son of Bartolino of Montolmo [r], having an abscess in his eye, for fifteen days could see nothing, and by the judgment of the physicians that eye could not naturally be healed: he seeks therefore the almighty Physician; and, uttering a vow to Nicholas, without any interval of time he received the cleansing of his eye together with his sight. Tommasia, wife of Materno of Montesanto [s], for two years lacked light; and asking the accustomed help of blessed Nicholas, she straightway found the light she had lost.
[58] The son of a blaspheming mother is deprived of his eyes, Further, when God was multiplying marvellous and unheard-of things at the time of the holy Man's entombment, a noble woman, whose name I pass over in silence because of her detestable wickedness, when everyone was hearing the bells which were being rung for the publishing of many miracles, with rash daring said: That man could work miracles as surely as my son could be without eyes. An astonishing thing! For presently at the uttering of the wicked word, the eyes of her child, who was then sitting in his nurse's arms, come out of his head, and the nerves of the little one's eyes stretch down as far as his cheeks; so that he seemed a monster, who before was suckled fair and delightful. The nurse weeps, and the mother multiplies her laments, and the father too is called; he is stunned at the greatness of the mishap that had befallen.
[59] and afterwards is healed. What more? The husband knows his wife's curse; but he strives to change the curse into a blessing: for he praises the Saint, and, asking his patronage, cries out: Most holy Nicholas, help my unbelief: our son, who has been blinded through the demands of our faults, being enlightened and freed by you, let him be yours, let him serve you, let him attend upon you; and we too desire to be your servants. Do not therefore despise us, and deal with us according to the multitude of your charity, which many peoples proclaim of you: be not angry with us for ever; but change vengeance into grace, and for sorrow, I beseech you, render gladness. O the height of power given to blessed Nicholas! For suddenly, as the parents pressed on repeatedly with plaintive lamentations and pious petitions, the blinded child's eyes return to their own place. Having seen which, the parents come reverently with promised gifts to the Saint's tomb [t].
[60] Others restored from diseases of the eyes Giovanni, son of Petribono Sana [u] of Tolentino, had a son and a daughter suffering a flux of blood in their eyes; for whereas their eyes ought naturally to send forth a watery humour, they cast out a bloody one. And so, seeing that the counsels of physicians were useless, he ran with devotion to the singular physician, the most blessed Nicholas; and the same Giovanni, begging his help, very swiftly sees the eyes of both his children freed. Romano, son of Tommaso of Tolentino, suffered ophthalmia [x], that is, a disease of the eyes, so that for three weeks he was blind: being afflicted with a disease of this kind, he uttered a vow, and thereupon, relying upon the patronage of blessed Nicholas, he was presently freed from the ophthalmia of his eyes. Servita, wife of Bonistango [y], had a son; he suffered a dimness of the eyes so violently that, being utterly deprived of light, he was for a month altogether blind. On this account the mother is filled with grief, so that she would rather have had her son dead than blind. She implores him who does not forget to have mercy, and commends her blind son to blessed Nicholas; and then she who before her vow had suffered him blind, when the vow was uttered, received him enlightened.
[61] But as by this Saint's merits the blind see, so also the lame do not cease to walk. The memorable healing of a man crippled in hands and legs Lately [z] at Florence a certain man, who to beg alms lay afflicted for two years before the gate of the church of the Holy Spirit, of our Order, being not only lame in feet and legs, or destitute of the free use of his arms, but also full of ulcers. Now there was in that church an image of blessed Nicholas, to which many sick and languishing persons ran together, imploring the benefit of health. A certain Brother said to the sick man: Be well, he said; Why, son, do you not commend yourself to this Saint? For his merits are known to be so acceptable to God that, by their intercession with him, all infirmities are utterly and altogether taken away from those who commend themselves to him.
[62] But when that Brother withdrew, suddenly so great a devotion arose in the heart of the sick man and full of ulcers. that, casting away his crutches and the other supports by which he was upheld, falling meanwhile to the ground, he prayed with tears, saying: [] Holy Nicholas, help me [aa]. For presently at the sick man's devout invocation his contracted legs are stretched out, his soles and feet are made firm at their full length, and his hands are drawn out straight. He therefore who was lying rises, and, walking through the church as far as the door [] of the cloister, calls the Brethren; Come, he says, come; for by the merits of blessed Nicholas I have been freed. The Brethren come at the sick man's voice, and many lay folk gather [bb]. O faith, how strongly you grow cold in many! For the curious Florentines there did not let the man who had been freed rest until the first sleep; but bid him walk now hither, now thither, stretch out his arms, open his hands, raise his whole body [cc]. They see that he is sound, and they see the ulcers closed and dry; so that the flesh of his whole body, which had been of one colour [*], was restored and sound [dd].
[63] Moreover a certain other man of Tolentino [], lying bent in a certain little cart [] from a contraction of all his limbs, Another crippled man is healed. was compelled to fulfil even the necessities of nature there shamefully: for which cause life was to him not only laborious but exceedingly loathsome. Accordingly a certain man named Mercanto [*], when, passing by, he saw him, and remembering the miracles of the most blessed Nicholas, then newly entombed, said to him: Why, son, do you not commend yourself to God and to blessed Nicholas, who now flashes with so many and so great miracles? He said: May he himself deign to help me, whom God so hears. And he: Make a vow with a sincere heart to God, and you shall be freed. Presently he said: I ask you, holy Nicholas, man of God, that you would obtain for me at least so much as to be raised up and lifted, or that I may no longer be rolled among these filths [ee]. An unheard-of thing! For presently at this word, with many looking on, he rose from the little cart, and, standing, walks with crutches, who before lay in a cart. Nor did the holy Man grant to him who vowed more than he had asked; that he might show that he had power of miracles with God, and that the other had somewhat hesitated in faith: as if he said: As you have believed, so be it done to you: you believed a little, and it is done; if you had believed much, much would have been granted you.
ANNOTATA.
Nay, the number of the said miracles has grown so great that a copious multitude of notaries, as it were wearied by the many marvels written down, cannot even be drawn by the reward of a fee to write out the traces of the holy Man, the miracles which daily more and more are newly wrought. From the sea therefore of the flood of such great graces I have thought to draw certain things at present, that from his devotion and from the power of our Lord and Saviour I may afford a draught to the thirsting faithful, cooling those who labour in the heat, and rousing the sloth of those who lie idle, so that at last, the former being made stronger and the latter more watchful, we may come to behold those marvels which neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has it ever been able to enter into the heart of man to conceive them.
p. That is, from Fanum S. Severini, of which we noted something just now at letter h.
q. This miracle is wanting in the Siena manuscript; but it is read in the Strozzi codex also.
r. The Siena manuscript has: Guglielmo, son of Bartolo, of Santo Monticolo. Further, Frederik de Wit, cited above, places Monte dell'Olmo three and a half German miles from Tolentino, not far from Macerata toward the Adriatic sea. It must therefore be read, of Montolmo.
s. The aforesaid Maps of Frederik de Wit show M. Santo five and a half German miles from the city of Tolentino toward the Adriatic sea, and on the very shore of the sea P. di Monte Santo. This miracle is likewise absent from the Siena codex: but in the Strozzi one it is read thus: Tommasa, wife of Martino of Montesanto, for two years lacked light, and, asking unwearied the accustomed help of Bl. Nicholas, found again the light she had lost, and did not delay to praise and proclaim with living voice God, who conferred such a grace upon men.
t. Torelli in the Annals, narrating this miracle a little differently, refers it, according to the opinion of others, to the year 1310, namely when the bells were being rung on account of forty-five miracles obtained at Tolentino on the night of the solemnity of All Saints: but this appears less probable, since, as he himself also observes, the present miracle is said to have happened at the time of the holy Man's entombment. So perhaps they judged, because in the memorial of the said 45 miracles, which we shall recite at number 4 of the Posthumous Glory, among other things is read: An unbelieving woman is brought to the faith: but nothing prevents our understanding here another woman converted from unbelief or heresy to the Catholic faith.
u. In the Siena manuscript he is called Giovanni Pietro Bonsanene; and our Papebroch noted in the same place that elsewhere is read, of Pietro Ponsaine.
x. Read Ophthalmiam, in Greek ὀφθαλμία. This miracle also is wanting in the Siena manuscript; but it is read in the Strozzi one, though with other words here and there.
y. The Siena manuscript has: Boniscago; elsewhere, as Papebroch testifies in the same place, Bonascagni. In the former also, after had a son, there is added: Who was called Cecco.
z. In the Siena manuscript there is prefixed: And first I wish the reader attentive to that wondrous and great matter which happened in these years: for lately at Florence there was a certain man named… etc. Of Florence, that most well-known city of Tuscany, I add nothing.
aa. In the same manuscript there is added: O how mighty and terrible art thou, God, high and magnificent in the sanctity of this thy Saint and Chosen one! For presently, etc.
bb. In the same place there is subjoined: At length the bell is rung and a larger crowd flows together to examine the aforesaid miracle. O faith, etc.
cc. Again in the same there is added: And not wearied of the evening, in the morning they do not cease to return: they see him, etc.
dd. In the aforesaid manuscript there is read moreover: From which matter, so marvellous, so astonishing and so new, the curious become humble, and, praising our Lord Jesus Christ in his Saint, who thus magnifies and exalts his little servants, they return to their own houses with trembling.
ee. The Siena manuscript has: I ask you, holy Nicholas of God, that you would at least be willing so far to raise me up and heal me, that here in so small a place I may not be rolled among my own filth.
Siena Ms.: Maxetta*.
pater* (father).
the Ms. adds, factus est* (he was made).
Ibid.: lucis* (of light).
Ibid. there is added, Domine* (Lord).
ostium* (door).
Ibid. adds, non* (not).
Ibid.: Tolentini* (of Tolentino).
Ibid.: in quadam caretta* (in a certain cart).
There, Mercatanti*.
CHAPTER VII.
Twisted and contracted limbs restored: the deaf and dumb healed: the dead restored to life.
[ ] Twisted limbs Jacobuzio, son of Giso of Ortezzano a, of the district of the city of Fermo, was held by such an infirmity that he had his mouth so crooked and twisted that he seemed abominable to all men. He seeks counsels, he strives to find remedies; yet, destitute of all human aid, he commends himself to the merits of this Saint: and, not doubting at all of his sanctity, he obtained a sudden effect of health. Another man of Tolentino, now dwelling at Ancona b, had a son lame from birth: for his right foot, whereas according to the accustomed course of nature it ought to go forward, was stretched out to the right. But the said father, hearing the miracles of this Saint, as swiftly as he might with great devotion vowed the aforesaid son to the most blessed Nicholas: who does not wait for the prayers of him who vows to be repeated, but, hearing his desire from on high, straightway makes straight the sick son's foot, and he who before walked not rightly runs about walking freely and without hindrance.
[65] and limbs contracted in a fearful manner But also a certain man of Foligno c, when he was destitute of all his limbs, was carried by others in a certain wooden cart. His faith and devotion is increased by the miracles of so great a Saint which he had heard, and, many prayers being interposed, he is carried from Foligno to Tolentino, where the most holy body lies hidden entombed. He lies there, and sets the Saint a term for the deliverance he desired; at which term the Saint is present with his power, and the sick man's bones began to be stretched out: and that there was there a wondrous working of the Saint is shown from this, that while the bones and sinews are stretched, an immense sound is heard, as though a twisted piece of wood were being brought back to straightness by a violent means. There run together therefore from every side those who had carried him, and others who had run together to visit the Saint's tomb, and, being made as it were beside themselves at so great a matter, terrified at once with astonishment and with pious devotion, they cry out: Blessed be God and the most blessed Nicholas! Then he who lay there rises and praises God in his Saint, who so beautifully restored, as he had asked, limbs utterly destitute of their own workings.
[66] Calandra, wife of Corrado of Montemidone d, are cured. was twisted in hands and feet, so much so that she seemed rather a monster than a human body. She, while she was being carried in a litter to the tomb of this Blessed one, asserted that she had seen a most beautiful lady, who with a pleasing countenance said to her: Enter the place where the relics of holy Nicholas are laid; and when she had been carried thither, that same woman [*] disappeared; but God's grace was at hand, suddenly healing her by this Saint's merits: but she, unmindful of so great a benefit, delayed to give what she had promised. She saw therefore in her sleep on a certain night blessed Nicholas, in the likeness of a boy with the habit of the Friars Hermits e, saying why she had not paid what she had promised: and she, corrected by so great a vision, returned to the sepulchre and fulfilled what she had vowed.
[67] Moreover by the glorious merits of this Saint the deaf hear and the dumb speak: A deaf and dumb man on pilgrimage to the Saint, whence a certain man named Cicco, born of the city of Ascoli f, when he was deaf and dumb, learned the miracles of blessed Nicholas from others by signs, as he could: in whose heart so great a devotion arose that he longed to go as swiftly as he might to the tomb of the said Saint. At length those who knew him, becoming his companions out of charity, hasten together to Tolentino. And they came to a certain hill near Tolentino, from which the church of blessed Augustine is seen on the side where the most holy body rests. Increase, O God, the faith of those who hope in thee [*]; for so great a faith was increased in that dumb man that, when he had seen the said church, he began to speak and said: Blessed Nicholas, help me. At which his companions, wondering, praise God, and lead him, thus freed, to the Saint, to whom they pay their vows, and after the publishing of the miracle they returned home with joy.
[68] Matteo, son of Antonino of Montolmo g, being oppressed with such an infirmity of the ears, another, when he was invoked, and others was deprived of hearing for three years. At length, destitute of the help of all medicine, he commends himself to this Saint's merits, and straightway his ears were opened, so that he obtained the faculty which he had lost. Baldo of San Severino h, when he was dumb and deaf from birth, learned from the throng of his people to visit this holy body i: raising up therefore a full devotion, he went with many to visit his tomb. At length, waking near it, he who had been dumb truly begins to speak, and he who had been deaf hears: which his companions, considering, bend their knees, and do not cease to praise God, who so honours those who faithfully serve him.
[69] Another of the city of Ascoli, who was said to be dumb from an affliction of the tongue and of the hearing k, standing with certain men of Falerone l, of the m
diocese of Fermo m, healed at his tomb. is led by them, charity going before, to holy Nicholas, and is led by them with much charity n; who with arms and knees and faith, by such signs as he could, besought the Saint the more eagerly: whose faith, and the devotion both of those who led him and of those who came, he who alone does great wonders beheld from heaven, and straightway the dumb man's mouth was opened and his ears were opened, while he cried out and said: Thanks to thee, most holy Nicholas, for thou hast freed me. And in that hour a name was given him, and he was called John o, because he had received grace for grace from blessed Nicholas [p].
[70] An infant dead before Baptism is raised; Christ Jesus, the Bridegroom of the renowned mother Church, so loves her that he ever enlarges her with the offspring of a new progeny, renewing signs and prodigies through his Saints as through the sons of the Church, lest the bride should seem forsaken, if, as barren and feeble, she should lack the offspring of a most holy progeny. For we read that very many of the Saints raised the dead, but we find that blessed Nicholas raised not only many, but in various ways [q]. For to a certain man of Tolentino, whose name was Thomas, a son was born half dead, and the midwives were too late for the sacred washing, so that before they brought the water of baptism the child was dead. The father therefore forbids the child to be baptized, because, seeing him to be without a soul, he did not cease to weep, and ordered him to be buried in the house. The father therefore cries out, the mother cries out, and they offer prayers to blessed Nicholas, that he would at least obtain from God that they should not be said to have begotten so horrible and monstrous a thing, and that that soul should not be damned. Whence it came about that by the prayers of blessed Nicholas the soul was restored to the monstrous body [r].
[71] a girl who had died, A certain Thomas had a daughter named Cecca [s], who was for a long time so weighed down by sickness that in the judgment of all she had breathed out her spirit: for she had remained fifty days and nights without food and drink [t]. The Friars Minor are at hand, with whom she had chosen to be buried; and when at the given signal they had come to carry her out, suddenly the memory of blessed Nicholas crept into the father's heart, to whom with a most intent heart he commended his daughter. An astonishing thing! An altogether apostolic work. She who was bewailed as dead was suddenly restored alive and sound to her father's embraces.
[72] a woman laid out for burial, Lippo, son of Lucio Gentile of Cingoli [u], had a wife named Mira: when she had laboured for a year with fevers, and the physicians had despaired of her health, she fortified herself with the Sacraments of the Church and with extreme Unction, as one dying; at length this woman was washed with water, as is the custom with bodies to be buried. Her absent husband is called; and when no one else was waited for to bury her [x], her husband is at once present and cries out that he had commended her to blessed Nicholas under certain promises, and that therefore he by no means doubted of his mercy. At this voice Mira awakes, and was restored to the former solaces of her husband.
[73] likewise others about to be carried out are restored to life. Niva Cordi of the city of Macerata [y] had a son named Giamido [], who had entered the way of all flesh; for he lacked motion and sense, could not speak, and lay lifeless in bed. What more? For when all in common cried out that he was dead, the funeral is prepared, a grave is dug that the corpse may be carried out [z]. But the mother fled to divine help, uttered a vow, and commended her son with prayers to blessed Nicholas: which being done, the boy comes to life again, and God is proclaimed marvellous in his Saints. Giovanna, wife of Guglielmo Benuti [aa], had a son named Cicco []. He by chance had closed his last day according to the condition of all flesh: seeing that he had been sewn up in bands, as one who was straightway to be laid in the tomb. The mother was so distressed at her son's death that, giving herself to blows, she wept the more violently: meanwhile it comes into her mind to commend the son whom she was bewailing as dead to the merits of blessed Nicholas; and this was done: wherefore presently he who lay dead spoke to his mother alive.
[74] Gigliolo of Parma [bb] had a son named Venturino: Another laid upon the bier he, being pressed with continuous fevers, at length is abandoned by the physicians with no hope of health. Meanwhile all things are prepared which seemed fitting for the funeral. And I then heard a certain woman named Bertina relating to me that on that night in which Venturino had paid the debt of all flesh, her husband, being a dealer in unguents, was busied with the preparing of wax and of the other things needful for a funeral, and she herself, among others appointed to keep watch over the body, was watching until the hour of Matins [cc]. Further, Venturino's wife for grief poured forth bitter weeping, calling upon the most blessed Nicholas, that by his prayers he would restore her husband to the life of which he was then deprived.
[75] While she was praying thus in the chamber in which her dead husband lay [dd], suddenly comes to life again, she beheld a wondrous splendour suddenly come through the window of the chamber; gladdened at which she said: Come now, most holy Nicholas, help thy servant [*] in this hour. And behold, those who had been appointed to the keeping of the body came to her, saying: Weep no more; for your husband lives: for as we sat about the bier, a voice sounded from him, saying: How fair, how great a thing, my God! The wife came, rejoicing at these things; and him whom she had already bewailed as dead she embraces restored to life [ee]. Meanwhile the curious great men ask of him: You say that you have been restored from death to life by the merits of blessed Nicholas; tell us then, where were you when your soul did not sit in your body?
[76] To whom he said: After I departed from this life, and he sets forth where he had been. I came to a certain meadow, adorned with green herbs and fragrant flowers. Here and there rose seats fit for the rest of men, strewn with aromatic herbs [ff]. These greatly delighted me as I sat and rested there. I moved myself this way and that, filled with such sweetness that I could desire nothing further. But there came a certain most beautiful little child, at whose coming I was made sad, lest by his company I should now be deprived of my joy. And behold, placing himself upon my shoulders, he seemed to me marvellously heavy; signifying perhaps that heaviness of life to which he was coming to bring me back.
[77] Being at length asked by me with many prayers, he came down from my shoulders to the ground, shining in face, resplendent in garments; nay, a ray of his splendour so poured over me that my soul seemed to be as it were among the rays of the sun. And from his mouth there came forth both a voice of praise and a song, whereby a joy was granted me so great that, being made forgetful of the past delight received in the said meadow, I now seemed to enjoy the joys of eternal life. Wondering therefore, I asked who he might be: and he said to me: I am the Angel appointed to your keeping. Being therefore lulled by the joy and happiness of this splendour, song and converse, I returned to my body, finding myself sad because I had lost so great a joy: I returned to the life which I had left, and lost the happiness which I had. And so it was found that in that same hour the splendour had appeared to his wife through the window, by which the angel with much splendour brought him back to the world [gg].
[78] A boy drowned, A certain woman of San Ginesio [hh] had gone to a stream [ii] to wash clothes, leading with her a little son: but the heedless little one, being swallowed up in the river, died [kk]. But the corpse becomes a hindrance to the nearer mill: the millers wonder that the millstone does not turn round as it is wont; they cry out, they inquire, they hear the mother weeping for her son and crying out: Holy Nicholas, where is my son, whom I have so often commended to you? At length, the channel being searched, they find the boy drowned. The mother is thereupon afflicted with greater griefs, and calls upon blessed Nicholas to raise her son: and without delay the spirit is restored to the body, and the boy, being made sound, returned home with his mother and the others.
[79] and a man hanged, are raised. A certain householder of the town of Belforte [ll], being troubled on account of his wife, when by chance his wife herself and all his household had gone out of the house, moved by despair, hanged himself with a noose. When the women returned home and beheld him hanging, a great cry was raised; the body is taken down, and prayers and vows are made to blessed Nicholas [mm]: at whose voice the dead man sat up, praising and magnifying blessed Nicholas, who obtained for him that he should live after so shameful a death.
ANNOTATA.
p. In the Siena transcript there is subjoined: Returning therefore joyful to their homes and marvelling at the power and might given to blessed Nicholas, they do not cease to proclaim and announce so new a miracle in the porches, streets and squares both of their town and of their city.
That our St. Nicholas excelled in recalling the dead to life may be gathered both from what is to be said and from Battista Mantovano, the famous poet of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, who in the fifteenth century sang thus of these things:
The Annals of these matters record so many souls returned after death again into their own bodies, when the tomb was already made, when already the funeral procession was beginning to move, that he might be called the prefect of Avernus, and able at a nod to call back the buried shades, and to lay upon the three Fates such laws as he wills.
r. The Siena transcript, after those words, ordered him to be buried in the house, goes on thus: But nature then wrought a horrible thing, because, the soul having gone forth, that flesh remained without distinction of limbs after the manner of a certain mass, which, being handled, would take various forms. The father therefore cries out, and the child's grandmother cries out, and they offer their prayers to Bl. Nicholas, that he would at least obtain it granted by God that he and his wife should not be said to have begotten so horrible and monstrous a thing, and also that that soul should not be damned, and that, the soul being reunited to the body, the limbs might be discerned in the creature, and that at the last he should do his will. The Saint, not making light of this invocation, by his prayers restored the soul to the monstrous body, and the flesh, being beautifully distinguished into limbs, is restored to its natural right. These things there are obscure enough, in which the father is related to have begged and obtained for the shapeless infant the natural disposition of its limbs, and life, at least until it should be baptized. Further, although in the Annotations upon chapter 2, letter n, and chapter 4, letter i, we rejected what is there narrated concerning Gentile, who died in mortal sin, and the child who died without Baptism, and their being saved by the patronage of holy Nicholas; let not the reader therefore judge that what is said here is likewise repudiated by us: for the case here is far otherwise, since one who is raised again returns to the state of meriting, but not so the dead who are not raised. Concerning such as have been raised, the most eminent Prospero Lambertini, now Benedict XIV, may be consulted, in the excellent Work On the beatification of the Servants of God and the canonization of the Blessed, book 4, part 1, chapter 21, from number 31, where he learnedly discusses this subject and illustrates it with examples.
s. In the aforesaid transcript is read: Thomas, son of Martino, or, as is added, Mancino, of Offida, had a daughter named Cicea, etc. Now Offida is a town of the dominion of the Church in the March of Ancona, about two miles from Ascoli (concerning which we noted something at letter f), unless the maps deceive us.
t. In the same manuscript she is said to have abstained from all food and drink for fifty-one days and nights. I subjoin the words: There had also gone before in her an unheard-of thing, because for fifty-one days and nights she had remained without any food and drink. In the most learned Work of the most eminent Prospero Lambertini, cited at letter r, book 4, part 1, chapter 27, there are extant marvellous examples of long natural fasting, so that it is hard from this head to determine with certainty concerning this girl's death.
u. Cingulum, by the natives Cingoli, is a town of the Ecclesiastical dominion in the March of Ancona, beside the river Musone, about three German miles distant from Tolentino, according to the maps of Frederik de Wit. It formerly had its own bishop, but afterwards was added to the diocese of Osimo, until in the year 1725 its own see and diocese were restored to it by Pope Benedict XIII, yet in such a way that the same bishop should preside over the dioceses of Osimo and of Cingoli, as Orlendi testifies in the Orbis sacer et profanus, tome 1, part 2, book 3, chapter 12, number 7.
x. Concerning the husband who was summoned the Siena manuscript has this: Word was sent to the aforesaid Lippo, the husband of this Mira, who was then absent from Cingoli for a certain cause, that he should come with all speed; because his wife was to be given to burial, and they were waiting for him alone and no other. This husband, returning to himself, commended to blessed Nicholas her whom he had greatly loved, and, returning home in haste, hurried to the place where his wife lay, crying out to the bystanders and saying that he had commended her to blessed Nicholas under certain promises, and that he in no way doubted of his mercy. At this voice of her husband Mira awakes, and in her heart, since she could not with her mouth, consenting to her husband's vows, she was restored to the solaces of this life, if indeed they are solaces. From this account the woman seems rather to have been held for dead than to have been dead.
y. In the same manuscript it is: The lady Nina, of master Corrado of Macerata, etc. Further, Macerata is a city of the March of Ancona in the dominion of the supreme Pontiff, set on a hill by the river Chienti, and is reckoned the chief city of the whole March. In it the governor of that province resides, and it enjoys a famous university and academies, and was also made illustrious with a bishopric by Pope John XXII.
z. The aforesaid transcript has it thus: He had entered the way of all flesh, unless anyone should wish impudently to press the point that he had not utterly been dead, who lacked motion and sense, could not speak, and lay on his back in bed as if lifeless. What more? For when all in common cried out that he was dead, the funeral is prepared, a grave is dug, the bell is rung, that the corpse may be carried out and burial be bestowed upon the dead man.
aa. In the same manuscript it is: The lady Giovanna, wife of Golino Benvenuto.
bb. The city of Parma, capital of the duchy of the same name in Italy, is well known. In the often-cited transcript, for of Parma is written de Pina: now Pinna, by the natives Civita di Penna, is a city of the kingdom of Naples in Further Abruzzo.
cc. These things are reported a little more clearly in the Siena manuscript, from which take the following: Gigliolo of Pina had a son named Venturino, who, being held for several days by continuous fevers, and at length abandoned by the physicians as dead, is visited by certain Religious and by persons of the marquis's court; who, seeing him dead, order all things fitting for a funeral to be prepared: and I myself saw that lady named Bertina, who was then the wife of a certain speciarius (that is, a dealer in unguents) of Macerata, relating to me that through the whole night in which he had paid the debt of all flesh her husband had been busied about the preparing of wax and of the other things befitting a funeral, and she herself was appointed until Matins among others to the keeping of the body. There are added also in the same place the prayers with which the dead man's wife is said to have invoked St. Nicholas; but since these seem rather to have been composed by the writer than spoken by the aforesaid woman, I do not report them here.
dd. It must be read jacuerat (had lain), as is gathered from what follows: more rightly therefore the Siena manuscript has: She was in her chamber (in her bedroom) saying these things, the dead man lying in the hall, that is, in the great room or entrance-hall.
ee. In the same manuscript the following are interposed: O foolish unbelief, and presumption of foolish unbelief! After he was restored to life and health, they ask of him, etc. There are added afterwards certain other things which, since they are nothing to the point, I shall pass over.
ff. In the same place, concerning the seat, there is added: Whose length and breadth was four times as much as the measure of my body's size.
gg. What is to be determined concerning this marvellous vision I leave to the learned reader's judgment: yet nothing prevents our admitting these things as true. For the rest, what the most eminent Prospero Lambertini, cited at letter r, discusses concerning the place in which the souls of those raised again are to be said to have stayed is most worthy of reading. In the same place, number 34, he narrates the history of a certain heathen man who died in the year 1734 and was raised again, whose Process was sent to Rome by the bishop of Ephestia, Apostolic vicar in the province of Kiangsi in the empire of the Chinese. This man who was raised also mentions a certain young man, namely an angel, saying thus: After I closed my eyes and departed from this life, I came to a certain place, where, since I could not enter, being compelled by I know not what force, I was about to descend into hell. But as I was descending, a certain young man who held a lance in his hand met me, and, barring my way to the lower regions, said, etc.
hh. Consult the Annotations upon chapter 6, letter o.
ii. In the Siena manuscript it is: To the river Morus or Mosus.
kk. The manner in which the boy was drowned is expressed in the aforesaid manuscript thus: At length the heedless little one, coming to the mill-race and entering it, is swallowed up by the water; but being carried to the channel, which was partly covered over, by reason of the structure of the channel and the covering above, he is wedged between the sides of the channel, and thus, the waters rising, he was drowned.
ll. Belforte is a town not far from Tolentino.
mm. In the often-mentioned manuscript, besides what has been said, this is read: They cry out, and raising their voices on high, together with other women who gathered at the said cries, they take him down from his place, and made every trial whether the soul were still in the body: but recognizing that he was dead, they vowed him to blessed Nicholas; at whose voice, etc.
Siena Ms.: Domina* (lady).
Ibid. adds, inquit* (he says).
Ibid.: Zanulum*.
Ibid.: Cicoum*.
Ibid.: famulam tuam* (thy handmaid).
CHAPTER VIII.
Innocent men marvellously freed from hanging: help given to those in peril at sea.
[ ] An innocent man hanged, and another about to be hanged, are freed: Brothers, namely Mizulo [*] and Vanne, of the city of Osimo a, walking together through the territory of the city of Aquila b, are seized on account of a homicide perpetrated at that same hour, and are brought to the governor of the city to be punished: who, although they strove to clear themselves of the crime laid to their charge, as the truth of the matter was, yet, overcome by most cruel tortures, and choosing rather to die than to spend life in torments, confess against themselves that they had committed the deed which they had not even thought of. For which cause they were made worthy of death and are condemned to hanging. They call upon God's mercy, as men who
were innocent, and commended themselves to the merits of blessed Nicholas. What more? Vanne is hanged, but after four days the officers came to put to death by a like slaying Mizulo [*] also, the other brother; and they found that Vanne, whom they had supposed to be stinking on the gallows these four days, had the breath of life. Being therefore taken down from the gibbet, the power of God and of blessed Nicholas being recognized, he is freed by the governor together with his brother.
[81] men condemned to hanging are loosed from prison and chains. Pietro Bonagrazia of Matelica c was accused of having wished to betray that town to the enemy; being at length seized by the officers with his companions, who seemed privy to this matter, he is delivered to prison, and they bind them all together with iron chains and fetters. After a month d sentence was passed that they should die by hanging: but they do not cease to implore the suffrages of blessed Nicholas e; who, coming on the next night, broke their bonds, unlocked the prison, and, accompanying them outside the town, said: I am Nicholas, whom you have sought with so tender a devotion: this is your road; seek my sepulchre, and pay your vows.
[82] A storm at sea A certain man of San Ginesio f was sailing for the sake of trade with his mother and many others: at length a storm arising, their ship seemed to be sinking. But among the sailors different devotions to different Saints arose: four out of the number of the Saints are implored by the others; but those who had come from San Ginesio, on account of the nearness of the place in which blessed Nicholas was born, beseech him the more earnestly to succour the shipwrecked. And so the multitude of those in peril vowed a single wax candle to each of the Saints invoked: and behold, suddenly in the air above the sea five lighted candles appeared, whose flame could not be put out by so strong a wind. And it was marvellous that those candles rose and fell and moved forward with a notable motion, as though they were moved by a living spirit. They saw that this was without doubt a sign, because they were being moved in a wondrous manner by the power of those whose might had been invoked.
[83] A fair thing, because two signs are here made new, two marvels are here changed: is marvellously stilled. one, that after the manner of the pillar of fire and of cloud of the Old Testament the candles were moved by angelic power; and the other, that for a Saint not yet canonized by the Church militant a fifth candle appeared by the Church triumphant, so that it might be readily understood that he should be honoured on earth who was so excellently glorified from heaven. Hear, I beseech you, the marvellous effect of this apparition: for as the candles moved and flamed, as has been said, the storm gives way, calm comes on, and those who before seemed exposed to death, being restored to life, do not cease to praise and magnify God in his Saints g.
ANNOTATA.
Ibid.: Nuzolus*.
Ibid.: Nuzolum*.
SECOND LIFE
By an anonymous author,
From the edition of Domenico Antonio Gandolfo.
Nicholas of Tolentino, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, at Tolentino in Picenum (St.)
BHL Number: 6231
A. By an anonymous author.
The Saint's birth, Nicholas of Tolentino a, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, of memory to be recalled, was born of the lawful marriage contracted between Amata and Compagnone of Castel Sant'Angelo, of the diocese of Fermo, his Catholic parents and faithful Christians, who, having uttered a vow of going on pilgrimage to Bl. Nicholas of Bari for the obtaining of offspring [*], when they had been admonished by an angel in their sleep that they should rise and hasten to St. Nicholas of Bari, and that there it would be told them what manner of child was to be born of them, went readily. As they slept on the pavement of the church before the altar of Bl. Nicholas, the most holy Nicholas appeared in pontifical habit, saying: The angel who appeared to you told me that I should come to you announcing and confirming that at my obtaining a son shall be born to you, and he shall be called Nicholas, that he may bear my name.
[2] boyhood, the Order and the priesthood undertaken, his dwelling at Tolentino: He shall be most acceptable to Christ, leading a religious and strict life, and shall be marked with the priesthood; he shall offer an acceptable sacrifice to God; whose life shall be ended in a lofty miracle, shining with signs and prodigies. This Nicholas, a lawful Christian, lived among the Catholic faithful and was held for such; while still a little child he shunned the company of women and of boys, saying that he wished to become a Friar Hermit. He came most willingly to the divine offices, and heard the word of God with desire: at which men wondering, said: If the Lord shall grant life to this Little One, he will be a saint. In his youthful b age he entered the Order of St. Augustine in the said Castel Sant'Angelo; he was made a priest by the bishop of Osimo; and afterwards came to Tolentino [c], and stayed there, and did not depart thence so long as he lived.
[3] humility, chastity, fervour in divine things, He was humble and kindly in his manner of life, obedient to the Prior and the Brethren. Loving the cleanness of chastity, and wishing to shun concupiscences and evil temptations, he crucified his own flesh, chastising his body with fastings, vigils, prayers and hard chastisements, and passed a harsh, strict, clean and chaste life. He disciplined himself sometimes with withes, sometimes with straps, and sometimes with chains. Besides the appointed hours, at which he was continually first, he was almost always praying. Every day for the most part, even in time of sickness, so long as he could walk, he said Mass with much devotion and tears; and always, before he celebrated, he made his confession.
[4] assiduity in prayer, He was assiduous in prayer: after Compline until cockcrow, after Matins until morning, after Mass, unless occupied with confessions, until Terce, and after None, unless intent upon duties of obedience, until evening. He continually said the canticle of the Gradual psalms and the Offices of the dead, the spiritual psalms with the Litanies, and many salutations of the blessed Virgin on bended knee. The place of his prayer was not only in the oratory at the altar where he now lies entombed, but also in his cell, in which he had two marble stones, at one of which he knelt, but the other at which, when weary, he might chastise his outstretched arms at least with cold.
[5] But while he was pressing most devoutly upon devotion and prayer, struggles with demons, the devil, envying him, troubled him with hard blows and terrible apparitions. And first, while he was praying before the holy altar, he not only put out the lighted lamp, but, casting it to the ground, broke it. Secondly, standing upon the roof of the oratory, he formed the voices of various wild beasts, and, rolling back the roof-tiles, seemed to roll back the roof. Thirdly, the devil, entering with fury and terror through the door of the house in which St. Nicholas dwelt, came to the Saint as he prayed, and so afflicted him with blows that for many days the scars of the wounds appeared over his whole body. Fourthly, when he wished to sew up higher the gore d of one of his tunics, seeking and searching and not being able to find it, he said: Holy God, who could so mock me? Truly he who is not worthy to be named, he has mocked me. At whose word the devil presently answered, saying: I have mocked you and I will mock you, and I will deal otherwise with you, since I cannot thus overcome you. Then St. Nicholas said: Who are you? I am Belial, given as a goad to your sanctity. And he answered: If the Lord is my helper, my heart shall not fear. Fifthly, on the threshold of the refectory door he is dashed down by Belial, and, laid low upon the ground and again beaten by the devil, he bore it humbly and patiently, and by no means ceased from his prayers.
[6] Content with a small sack of straw e, he had his cloak f for a covering, and sometimes a stone for a pillow g. austerity of life, patience, He used rough and patched h tunics, and fled soft garments. He abstained also from flesh, eggs, fish and the fat of meats, from milk foods and from fruits, rejecting the counsels of physicians, the prayers of the Brethren and other importunities. Casting away the broth i, he put cold water into it in the kitchen, if it had been well seasoned. He drank wine well mixed with water, and was content with three small cups between wine and water in a day. On the second, fourth and sixth days of the week, and on Saturday in honour of the glorious Virgin, he refreshed himself once in the day with bread and water, and likewise through the whole of Holy Week. In his infirmities he was patient and kindly.
[7] He had much compassion in the failings and infirmities of others, charity toward his neighbour, and rejoiced at their consolation. He was the greatest consoler of the troubled and the sick; he visited them willingly, and procured food and necessaries for the needy. In giving them alms he was very solicitous, and led on the Prior and the rich to this. If any good thing had been sent to him, even when he was sick, he did not eat it, but sent it to other poor sick persons. For being solicitous about the works of charity and mercy, he first visited the sick, and procured for them what was more pleasant, comforting them with divine words, and had compassion on them. For many who confessed to him he prayed, fasted, celebrated, and poured forth tears before the Lord, that they might be freed from the darkness of their sins. He loved the poor, cherished them by word and by deed, and obtained garments and food for them. To the sorrowful he was gladness, to the afflicted consolation, to those bearing discord among themselves peace, to the labouring refreshment, to captives a remedy.
[8] For Christ and for his neighbour he did not hesitate to die. He was modest, chaste, temperate, bashful, cheerful, his other virtues and the fame of his sanctity. generous, quiet, fleeing envy, driving away scandals; empty of covetousness and of fancy, adorned in manners, just, wise, prudent, discreet, an enemy of avarice, contrary to negligence, clear-sighted in matters committed to him: for he was of good sense, faithful, humble and kindly; pale, and he had an angelic face. He walked with eyes and hood and head bent down, so that his face could scarcely be seen. He was held for a holy man in great devotion and reverence. There was no one who would deny him an alms. Those who could hear his Masses and sermons, or make their confession to him, went away satisfied. Small penances
he laid upon them, and comforted those who confessed humbly and kindly.
[9] Lying sick he is visited by Christ and Mary, in whose Eight days before his death he caused an image, which he always had in his cell, to be set opposite his face; and on the second day he asked the Virgin Mary and the blessed Father Augustine that he might receive apparitions of Christ and the consolation of them. But on the third day after the said prayers Christ appeared with Bl. Mary, as Brother Nicholas himself had asked; and he humbly besought them that it might be made known to him whether his passing was to be in those days. Then the blessed Virgin Mary said: On the third day after my Nativity k you shall pass from this world to the kingdom of the heavens; make haste therefore to prepare yourself, the Sacraments of the Church being received. Then the said Nicholas asked of her that in the hour of his death no enemy might meet him, with whom he had so fought while living; to which, no answer being given to the said Brother Nicholas, as he prayed more devoutly, on the fifth day after the setting up of the image he heard the voice of an angel saying: Your prayer has been heard.
[10] and of St. Augustine's sight he dies holily. Then on the eighth day after the setting up of the image Nicholas himself caused the holy cross to be shown him, the brethren standing by, and humbly asked pardon for his offences, and said to Brother Giovannuccio l of Tolentino, his attendant, that he should always whisper into his ears: Thou hast broken, O Lord, my bonds, I will sacrifice to thee a sacrifice of praise. Afterwards in the cell of the same Nicholas a voice of gladness was heard, and he seemed to laugh from great joy. Then his attendant said to Nicholas: What is this joy and gladness of yours, Father? The same Nicholas after many entreaties answered: It is God and my Lord Jesus Christ, who, cleaving to his Mother and to my father Augustine, said to me: Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord. And saying at the last, Into thy hands, Lord, I commend my spirit, with hands joined toward heaven, his eyes lifted before the cross, with a joyful and cheerful countenance he commended his spirit to the Lord, in the year of the Lord one thousand three hundred and five, on a Saturday, the 10th of the month of September, that is, in his 60th year [m].
[11] Conclusion of the Life. Having therefore lived praiseworthily in the Order, he shone while he lived with the brightness of sanctity, was resplendent in life and manner of living, and flashed with great and many miracles both before and after his death — in the raising of the dead, the curing of various diseases, the driving out of demons, and also in enlightening the blind, freeing captives, giving hearing to the deaf and walking to the lame; and with very many other divers miracles: concerning which, both before and after the death of the said Nicholas, there was and is in those parts a public voice and fame n.
ANNOTATA.
emisso* (having been uttered).
THE SAINT'S POSTHUMOUS GLORY
Nicholas of Tolentino, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, at Tolentino in Picenum (St.)
BY C. S.
§ I. Immediately after his death he is invoked by the faithful: his tomb is famous for miracles: a Process of canonization instituted under Pope John XXII: why his canonization was deferred.
[ ] Immediately after his death he is famous for miracles: What we have thus far recited from the biographer leaves no doubt that Nicholas, soon after his most blessed death, was invoked as a Saint by the prayers of the faithful, and that his sepulchre was made illustrious by a frequent concourse of people and by many prodigies. Indeed Jordan of Saxony in the Lives of the Brethren, book 2, chapter 13, after relating the death of Nicholas, whom he everywhere addresses with the title of Blessed or Saint, presently adds: After whose passing several most evident miracles were wrought by his merits: for the Lord glorified his Saint in his life, and after his death multiplied his signs and prodigies yet more. The same, in chapter 11, after relating some miracles, had said: Many and innumerable other miracles God wrought through the same blessed Man, which the tongue would scarcely suffice to tell, or the pen to write out, and he works them at this present day, of some of which there is a special Treatise at the end of the book. Thus he about the middle of the fourteenth century: but it is to be lamented that the Treatise which he mentions is to this day wanting.
[2] at his tomb in a single night Memorable it is, and conducing to the confirming of the Saint's ancient cult, what Torelli writes to have been done in the year of Christ 1310, that is, in the fourth or fifth year from his death, and which therefore I transfer hither in his own words rendered into Latin. Five years and more had now elapsed, he says, since our great Saint of Tolentino had flown away from this lower vale of the world to the height of the heavenly Jerusalem; and although God the supreme monarch, on account of the merits of his great Servant and his most efficacious patronage, had always granted notable miracles to his pious clients who, pressed by miseries, had implored his most powerful protection, yet he is never read to have wrought so many at one time as he wrought in this year of the Lord 1310, on the most solemn night of the festival of All Saints.
[3] forty-five miracles For all the authors of the Saint's Life report, and the same is manifestly established from the solemn Process of canonization, that, when a thronging crowd of the sick and of those afflicted with various evils had gathered to keep vigil in the church in which his holy body lay, that they might recover their lost health by the Saint's merits, forty-five suddenly recognized that they had been prodigiously healed, and thereupon, exulting for gladness, with lifted voices rendered due thanks to great God and then to the glorious saint Nicholas; and that at the same time the bronze bells of the aforesaid church sounded of themselves, the whole city running together, and each one giving thanks to most kindly God that he had manifested so marvellous a work and so many miracles on that night to the glory of his great servant Nicholas.
[4] Almost the same things Simpliciano de Saint-Martin, Hermit of St. Augustine and royal professor of sacred Theology at Toulouse, writes are said to have been wrought. in his History of the Holy and illustrious persons of his Order, where, to give credit to his statements, he subjoins the following: Those who have been at Tolentino were able to read the memorial of these miracles, written near the bell-tower in these words: "While on the solemn night of All Saints very many of the faithful labouring under various sicknesses were keeping vigil according to their vow in the church of the divine Nicholas, health is poured out upon the sick, an unbelieving woman is brought to the faith, and, the bells ringing of themselves for joy, forty-five miracles are proved to have been wrought by the divine Nicholas on that same night." Saint-Martin, however, differs from Torelli, in that he ascribes the aforesaid prodigies not to the year 1310 but to 1325. Alberici in the Life of the Saint, part 2, chapter 1, likewise refers them indeed to the year 1310, but recites the aforesaid memorial as being for miracles wrought in the year 1325, and therefore, unless an error has crept in, he seems to have judged that the aforesaid prodigies were repeated in the later year. For the rest, although Torelli cites, besides the Process of canonization, all the writers of the Life, yet I find nothing of the kind in Peter of Monterubbiano or in Jordan of Saxony: perhaps because they happened after the Life was written by the former; but the latter could have recorded these very things in the Treatise which we have said is wanting.
[5] Further, besides the miracles granted for the solace of the wretched, A marvellous star, which are wont to kindle the veneration of the Saints in the minds of the faithful, the concourse of the people was without doubt much increased by that marvellous star which, as it had often shone before the Saint while he dwelt among the living, so it was wont, as the biographer hands down, and after him Jordan of Saxony, to illumine yearly the tomb of the dead man on the very day on which he had died, with a truly marvellous prodigy. The words of the former we gave in the Life at number 30 and following:
the latter, in book 2, chapter 17, has this: So too was that man of outstanding sanctity, Bl. Nicholas of Tolentino, prepared in all things (for prayer), in sign of whose devout prayer and contemplative vision a certain most shining star very often went before him when he was going to the place of prayer. For when on a certain night the man of God had persisted long in prayer in his cell, he fell asleep a little; and behold, in his sleep there appeared a most clear star, exceedingly great in size, most swift in motion, in position not high, but as it were moving near the ground at the height of a man.
[6] And it seemed that the last point of such a star had its beginning from Castel Sant'Angelo, which had often shone before the Saint while he lived, whence the same Saint had drawn his origin, and, advancing in its motion to Tolentino, had its stay and end before the altar behind the choir of the oratory, which was then toward the cloister, where he was accustomed more frequently to celebrate in the morning, and more often by day and sometimes by night to persist in prayer; to the sight of which thing peoples of divers provinces and tongues (as it seemed to him) came together. And when he had been assured of this marvellous sign not only on that night but on several others, he began with wonder to consider within himself what this vision might import in meaning: but not finding it, he opened his vision in secret to a certain Brother of good reputation and praiseworthy life: who answered with a certain prophetic speech, saying: Reverend Father, in truth this star is a foretoken of your sanctity; nor does my mind turn it into doubt that where the star completed its motion, there your body will be laid, and from the many miracles which will be wrought there, various peoples who did not know you will hasten from every side to receive the benefits of holiness [*] and will reverence your tomb.
[7] But the holy Man, ever supported by humility, said: and illumines his tomb for many years Lay aside such an opinion, dear Brother; because I have always been an unprofitable servant of Christ: let God himself explain it to me, for you do not understand my vision. But after a few days, when according to his wont he entered the oratory by day, a certain star with as it were a forward motion went before him as far as the aforesaid altar; and when this happened on daily days, he understood in spirit that this star contained something expressive of the truth of that which he had seen by night. When therefore on another day he again entered the oratory, the star, as before, went before him; but the holy Man, having made reverence and some prayer before the aforesaid altar, walking through the length of the oratory, saw the star no further; but when he went to the altar, presently the star appeared above that place; and when this happened to him for several years before his death, he, recognizing with all humility not his own but God's glory, gave thanks to God, the Bestower of all good things.
[8] on his death-day. And when the time of his passing was at hand, he asked the Brethren with all charity that they should bury him in that place, and at no time whatsoever should remove him thence. For it was fitting that where the spirit of the man of God had been wont in the time of prayer to be lifted up to contemplative raptures, as the star bore witness, there his body should remain in perpetual memory of his merits. But for the more evident manifestation of the divine Goodness it came about that after his death, for many years, always on the day of his passing, on which an endless multitude flowed together to his venerable body awaiting the remedy of health — and not before, nor after — it was seen by all men who wished to behold it, directly above his tomb, as though not moving; that it might give to be understood that Bl. Nicholas not only shone on earth with miracles, but also rejoiced in heaven in eternal rewards. This prodigy of the star, I say, without doubt much increased the esteem conceived of the Man's sanctity, and drew wretched mortals to the Saint's tomb. But for how many years that star recurred neither the biographer nor Jordan declares: nevertheless, since the manner of speaking of both sufficiently hints that it had ceased to appear at the time in which they wrote, it is probable that it had already ceased in the year 1326, in which the former of these wrote.
[9] About the twentieth year from his death canonization is attempted. But how great was the greatness and frequency of the miracles may be gathered from this, that about the twentieth year after the Saint's death, namely in the year of Christ 1325, John XXII presiding over the Church, the matter of enrolling him among the Saints was seriously treated. For indeed Amelio de Lautrec, canon Regular of St. Augustine and abbot of the monastery of St. Saturninus of Toulouse, afterwards bishop of Castres in Occitania, but at that time, as it seems, already Rector of the March of Ancona, together with the magistrates of the cities of the same March, urged upon John XXII, residing at Avignon, that he would order the life and miracles of Nicholas to be examined, and would deign to enrol him in the catalogue of the Saints; to whom the Pontiff kindly assenting, laid that charge upon the bishops of Senigallia and Cesena, and upon the abbot of the monastery of St. Peter of Perugia. So we learn from the Bull of the same John XXII, which Lorenzo Empoli recites, inserted in a Brief of Innocent VI, in the Bullarium of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, from which we transfer it hither.
[10] John the Bishop, Servant of the Servants of God. To our venerable brothers the bishops of Senigallia and Cesena, The Bull by which John XXII orders the bishops of Senigallia and to our beloved son the abbot of the monastery of St. Peter of Perugia, greeting and Apostolic benediction. The Father of lights and of mercies, and God of all consolation, who according to the multitude of his compassions enlarges his Church with the offspring of a new progeny, and by the new miracles of the Saints enlightens the souls of sinners, strengthens the hearts of the faithful, and kindles zeal for the reward of eternal light for souls, confers upon us much and deserved matter of joy, and heaps upon us great debts of thanks and praises to be continually rendered to him, while by truthful showings he confirms the foundations of our Faith, raises the hope of the faithful to higher things, calls us to the love of virtues by the examples of the Saints, and evidently shows the way by which one goes to our country; that by these things, in the hope of an eternal reward, malice being overcome, we may by virtue trample down earthly vices, and by a happy exchange may (with the help of him who is Mighty) obtain for ourselves eternal things in place of the perishable things of the world.
[11] For lately, on the part of our beloved son Amelio, abbot of the monastery of St. Saturninus of Toulouse and rector, and of Cesena, and the abbot of St. Peter of Perugia, and of very many cities, towns and notable places of the March of Ancona, it was set forth before Us and our brothers, and that with frequent and repeated insistence, that Nicholas of Tolentino, of memory to be recalled, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, of the diocese of Camerino, having lived praiseworthily for a long time in the same Order, shone while he lived with the brightness of sanctity, was resplendent in life and manner of living, and flashed with great and many miracles, both before and after his death — namely in the raising of the dead, and the curing of various diseases, the driving out of demons, and also in enlightening the blind and freeing captives, giving hearing to the deaf and walking to the lame, and with very many other divers and various miracles. Wherefore on their part it was humbly besought of Us that, an inquiry being first made into the life and miracles of that Nicholas, if we should find the aforesaid things supported by the truth, we would enrol him in the catalogue of the Saints, and would cause him to be solemnly venerated throughout all the churches of the world.
[12] But although the aforesaid things, if they be true, refresh our heart and the hearts of our brothers with much gladness, and we offer the calves of our lips to the Most High, to inquire into the Saint's life and miracles. who founded the bases of the columns of our faith upon a firm rock; yet considering that a matter of this kind, so sublime and so arduous, is unsearchable to mortals and deeply hidden from their senses, since no one compassed about with flesh can search out the heavenly secrets, and we can scarcely without labour, and sometimes with failure, truly investigate earthly things; and because of this the Roman Church has been wont in so great a matter to proceed with exact diligence and much maturity; considering also that you, as being near to the place, will be able to have full certainty of the truth concerning the aforesaid things; being inclined to the supplications of the aforesaid rector, cities, towns and places, we command by Apostolic writings your discretion, in which we have full confidence in the Lord, that you, or two of you, in the place or places which shall seem expedient to you, do more diligently inquire into the truth concerning the life and manner of living and miracles of the aforesaid Nicholas, and concerning all the circumstances touching a matter of this kind, according to the form which we send you enclosed under our Bull; and what you shall find upon these matters, set down faithfully in writing under your seals, appointing fit men to the Apostolic See, that, being diligently instructed by your inquiry in a matter of this kind, we may be able to proceed the more securely, to the praise and honour of the divine Name, the strengthening of the Catholic Faith and the consolation of the faithful peoples (the Lord directing our acts). Given at Avignon, on the tenth of the Kalends of June, in the ninth year of our Pontificate.
[13] The aforesaid bishops in the year 1326 Thus far John XXII; the rest that is subjoined in that place are the words of Innocent VI, by which he gives assurance that this transcript is in every way conformable to his original, and therefore of the same authority as it. For the rest, since the aforesaid John XXII was created Pontiff on the 7th day of August in the year 1316, and signed the Bull which we have recited in the 9th year of his Pontificate, on the tenth of the Kalends of June, it becomes manifest that it was given in the year 1325, and therefore that in that year, which was about the twentieth from Nicholas's death, his canonization was attempted. Further, this Bull of John Brother Pietro da Castello, Provincial of the March of Ancona, and Brother Simone da Monticolo, Prior of Tolentino, carried to Federico bishop of Senigallia and Tommaso bishop of Cesena, who, after an examination begun according to custom, took care that what they had been able to gather concerning the Saint's deeds and miracles should be sent to the aforesaid Pontiff, as they had been ordered.
[14] transmit the Process to the Pontiff, So it is established from the Bull of Innocent VI, given in the year 1357, to be recited below, from which take some things pertaining hither. When he had said that it had been commanded by John XXII to the bishops of Senigallia and of Cesena, and to the abbot of St. Peter of Perugia, that they should inquire into the life and miracles of Nicholas, he continues thus: And afterwards the said bishops only, as we have learned from the report of trustworthy men, according to the tenor of those letters and the aforesaid form directed to them, inquiring more diligently concerning the aforesaid matters, and faithfully sending back under their seals to the Apostolic See what was found by an inquiry of this kind upon the said business, caused those things to be presented by a fit messenger to the aforesaid Predecessor and to his Brothers the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church who were then living, namely on the fifth day of the month of December, in the year of the Lord one thousand three hundred and twenty-six, in consistory; and the same Predecessor committed them to some of the said Cardinals to be examined and afterwards reported to him, whose examination and report was delivered and also assigned to the said Predecessor and to each of the other Cardinals who were then living.
[15] which is said to be kept at Siena: That this Process is extant among the Augustinian Fathers
of Siena, the aforesaid Gandolfo writes in these words: There is preserved in the same our Siena library a great manuscript volume in royal folio, in which is contained the Process drawn up by the bishops Federico of Senigallia and Tommaso of Cesena, deputies and commissaries of the Apostolic See; namely at the command of John XXII, as appears from the Bull inserted in it and in the Bullarium of the Order, given in the year 1325: but it has not come into our hands; unless perhaps the Siena manuscript, of which we treated in the preliminary Commentary at numbers 8 and 9, be a part of the Process, as we suspected in the same place at number 10.
[16] But why the pious endeavours then lacked the desired issue, the reason for the deferred canonization. we have from the aforesaid Bull of Innocent, in which he adds: But whereas, as the petition lately presented to us on the part of our beloved sons, the Prior general and the Friars of the aforesaid Order, contained, although from the aforesaid inquiry, examination and report, and from the other things which were done at that time upon the said business, the sanctity of the manner of life and life, and the miracles, of that Nicholas appear fully and evidently; yet on account of the manifold occupations of the said See and other causes the aforesaid business could not be despatched according to the custom which the Roman Church observes in such matters, etc. More clearly speaks Eugenius IV in the Bull of canonization to be recited below, saying thus: And so, when the fame of this blessed Man, and the highest devotion of the peoples toward him, grew after he had ended his life, Pope John XXII of happy memory, our Predecessor, presiding with his court at Avignon, began with his Brothers to treat of his canonization, which without doubt he would have accomplished, had not his death and horrible schisms supervened. Thus he, alleging the tyranny of Louis the Bavarian, and the wicked schism of Pietro da Corvara, who by his aid had usurped the Pontificate under the name of Nicholas V, and finally the death of John XXII, which fell in the year of Christ 1334.
Annotataperhaps sanitatis* (of health).
§ II. The canonization attempted again under Pope Innocent VI; but with a fruitless endeavour.
[ ] Nicholas's cult being increased, Although for the reasons brought forward above Nicholas was not enrolled in the roll of the Saints by John XXII, yet his public cult seems even then to have been permitted by the Apostolic See: nay, Luca Castellini, in his Treatise On the certitude of the glory of canonized Saints, chapter 2, point 58, reports from Jerónimo Román, book 4 On the Christian Commonwealth, that he had been beatified a hundred years before the canonization which was performed in the year 1446, and that his feast with an Office was wont to be kept. Certainly it is established that in this very fourteenth century altars and chapels were erected to him, that indulgences were granted by the supreme Pontiffs in his honour, and that a feast day was celebrated for him yearly, as we shall show below in their places.
[18] Meanwhile Nicholas grew daily more and more famous with new miracles; and his miracles growing more frequent, the cause by which the Augustinian Fathers were moved in mind to resume the interrupted cause of canonization. And so they besought Innocent VI, who then presided over the whole Church of Christ, that he would order to be examined the miracles which had grown frequent after the first process. Innocent assented, and by a Bull given in the year 1357 laid the charge of examining them upon the most eminent Cardinal Gil Carrillo, bishop of Sabina, and his legate throughout Italy. That Bull is extant in the Bullarium of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, whence I have transcribed it hither. Innocent the Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our venerable brother Gil, bishop of Sabina, legate of the Apostolic See, greeting and Apostolic benediction. Those things which have been laudably begun by the Apostolic See for the praise of the divine name and the splendour of the Catholic faith and the consolation of the faithful peoples, we willingly and zealously pursue, and to the accomplishing of them we apply, so far as we can, diligent labour.
[19] of canonization is resumed under Innocent VI, For some time ago, when it had been set forth on the part of the then rector, and of very many cities, towns and notable places of the March of Ancona, to Pope John XXII of happy memory, our predecessor, that Nicholas of Tolentino, of memory to be recalled, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, of the diocese of Camerino, having lived praiseworthily for a long time in the same Order, had, while he lived, shone with the brightness of sanctity, had been resplendent in the manner of his life, and had flashed with great and many miracles, both before and after his death — namely in the raising of the dead, the curing of various diseases, the driving out of demons, and also in enlightening the blind and freeing captives, giving hearing to the deaf and walking to the lame, and with very many other divers and various miracles.
[20] the Bull of which And when it had been humbly besought of the said Predecessor on the part of the said petitioners that, an inquiry being first made into the life and miracles of that Nicholas, if the aforesaid things should be found supported by the truth, he would cause the same Nicholas to be enrolled in the catalogue of the Saints, and would cause him to be solemnly venerated throughout all the churches of the world; the same Predecessor gave in charge by his letters to the then bishops of Senigallia and Cesena and to the abbot of the monastery of St. Peter of Perugia, that they, or two of them, in the place or places which should seem expedient to them, should diligently inquire into the truth concerning the life and manner of living and miracles of the said Nicholas, and concerning all the circumstances touching a matter of this kind, according to the form transmitted to them by the said Predecessor under an Apostolic Bull, and that what they should find upon these matters, set down faithfully in writing under their seals, they should send by fit men to the Apostolic See, as is more fully contained in the letters of the same Predecessor.
[21] to the most eminent Gil Carrillo And afterwards the said bishops only, as we have learned from the report of trustworthy men, according to the tenor of those letters and the aforesaid form directed to them, inquiring more diligently concerning the aforesaid matters, and faithfully sending back under their seals to the Apostolic See what was found by an inquiry of this kind upon the said business, caused those things to be presented by a fit messenger to the aforesaid Predecessor and to his brothers the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church who were then living, namely on the fifth day of the month of December, in the year of the Lord one thousand three hundred and twenty-six, in consistory; and the same Predecessor committed them to some of the said Cardinals to be examined and afterwards reported to him; whose examination and report was delivered and also assigned to the said Predecessor and to each of the other Cardinals who were then living.
[22] legate of the Apostolic See is here recited; But whereas, as the petition lately presented to us on the part of our beloved sons the Prior general and the Friars of the aforesaid Order contained, although from the aforesaid inquiry, examination and report, and from the other things which were done at that time upon the said business, the sanctity of the manner of life and life, and the miracles, of that Nicholas appear fully and evidently; yet on account of the manifold occupations of the said See and other causes the aforesaid business could not be despatched according to the custom which the Roman Church observes in such matters, and meanwhile the Father of mercies, from the said time of the sending back and presentation of the aforesaid things, has wrought and continually works very many miracles in that Nicholas, by the manifesting of power [] or of works [], on account of the merits of that Nicholas; it was humbly besought of us on the part of the said Prior and Friars that, for a fuller searching out of the truth and for the making clear of the eager and famous memory of that Nicholas, we would of Apostolic kindness command a diligent inquiry to be made concerning the said miracles wrought after the aforesaid time on account of his merits, as is set forth above.
[23] We therefore, considering that the more keenly the lights of virtues are looked upon, the more brightly they shine, and the more spices are ground, the more strongly they give forth their fragrance, but with a fruitless issue. being inclined to supplications of this kind, command your Fraternity by Apostolic writings that concerning the miracles of this kind, which from the time of the aforesaid presentation the divine Clemency has wrought on account of the merits of that Nicholas, as is set forth above, you, either by yourself or by others fit for the aforesaid matters, in the places where you shall see it expedient, according to the form which we send you enclosed under our Bull, do more diligently inquire into the truth, and take care to make known to us, faithfully set down in writing, under your seal, with the testimony of your letters containing the series of these, what you shall find upon these matters; that in the said business, God favouring, it may be possible to act and to proceed more surely. Given at Avignon on the Ides of April, in the fifth year of our Pontificate; that is, of Christ 1357.
[24] But what the aforesaid most eminent Carrillo performed in this matter I have not found; Other things pertaining to the same nor does anyone, so far as I know, mention a Process drawn up by him. Torelli at the year of Christ 1359, number 3 and following, judges that in that year, in the chapter of his Order celebrated at Padua, in which the Reverend Father Matteo of Ascoli was elected Master General of the whole Order, among various decrees one was issued concerning the pressing forward of St. Nicholas's canonization, and that to that end an authentic transcript of the Bull of John XXII, to be copied from the Pontifical Register by Agostino da Brisaco, general procurator of the Order, was requested from Innocent VI and granted. So he judged not improbably, because in the Bullarium of the Order in Empoli there is extant a Bull of the aforesaid Innocent, given in the eighth year of his Pontificate, by which he grants to the Augustinian Fathers an authentic transcript of the aforesaid Bull of John XXII: and it is that which we subjoin.
[25] Innocent the Bishop, servant of the servants of God. cause For the perpetual memory of the matter. The tenor of certain letters of Pope John the twenty-second of happy memory, our predecessor, found in the Register of that our predecessor, at the instance of the supplication of our beloved son Agostino da Brisaco, professed of the Order of Friars Hermits of St. Augustine, and general procurator of the same Friars and Order, who asserts that he needs the said tenor for that Order, we have caused to be transcribed word for word from that Register and to be noted down in these presents, which is as follows. Then follows the Bull of John XXII, which we recited above from number 10. Then Innocent continues in this manner: But that the aforesaid tenor of the same letters, thus inserted, may give complete certainty of the matter or fact, we decree by Apostolic authority that the said tenor shall in all respects have the same strength, the same force, and the same vigour which the aforesaid original letters would have, and that exactly the same credit be given to the same tenor, whensoever and wheresoever it shall be exhibited or shown, whether in judgment or elsewhere, so that it may be firmly stood by in all things, as would be stood by those same original letters, if they were exhibited or shown. To no one therefore, etc. Given at Villeneuve of the diocese of Avignon, on the fourth of the Ides of July, in the eighth year of our Pontificate: that is, of Christ 1360.
[26] pertaining to it. How far the cause was advanced at that time I plainly do not know, and Torelli himself confesses that he does not know; yet he asserts that it is established for him that various instruments pertaining thereto were then drawn up: what these were, however, neither does he declare, nor have I been able to find elsewhere; and therefore it appears to me more probable that little or nothing was then effected. Yet that under that Pontiff the matter of enrolling Nicholas among the Saints was really treated, we have also from the Bull of Sixtus V, published in the year 1585 for the restoring of the Saint's festival; for in it the Pontiff speaks thus: This man therefore, of miracles
and signs, in whom the unexhausted kindness of God willed to work both in life and after death, John XXII and Innocent VI of happy recollection, being moved thereby, concurred in first placing in the number of the Saints, etc. For the rest, it is probable that Innocent's death, which fell in the year 1362, made the pious endeavours fruitless.
Annotataperhaps virtutes* (powers).
perhaps manifestationis* (of the manifesting).
§ III. The cult shown to him before his canonization; chapels and altars erected: notable indulgences granted by Pope Boniface IX on his feast, and on the Sunday within the Octave.
[ ] In the same century in which he died Innocent VI being taken from among the living, Urban V, Gregory XI and finally Urban VI succeeded; under which last the lamentable schism, which was at length extinguished in the Pontificate of Martin V, afflicted the Church of God in a pitiable manner; wherefore it is no wonder that the cause of canonization, long since begun, remained as it were lulled to sleep in times so mournful. Yet meanwhile the miracles of Nicholas grew frequent, and with the miracles the veneration of the people toward him, so that he was now honoured with the title of Blessed and of Saint, not only by the common people but even by the supreme Pontiffs, and enjoyed a public cult. I do not wish indeed to heap up here the several indications of this matter, which may be gathered from various places of the Posthumous Glory; yet in this section I shall set forth the chief ones, that it may be clear that our Nicholas, before he was placed among the Saints by Eugenius IV, was celebrated by the public prayers of all, and with altars and chapels.
[28] chapels And first indeed, that from the year 1338, or the year next following, a chapel was erected to his name at Ancona in Picenum, Torelli shows at the year of Christ 1338, producing a certain instrument drawn up in the year 1339 by Brother Jacopo of Ancona, who then presided over the convent of Ancona, for the memory of the matter, from which I transcribe this: To the praise and reverence of almighty God, and of his Mother the glorious Virgin Mary, of the blessed confessors Augustine and Nicholas, and of all his Saints, male and female, and for the perpetual memory of the matter. The whole people of the city of Ancona dedicated and founded this church of the Friars Hermits of the Order of St. Augustine of Ancona, by the name and title of St. Mary of the People, and the lower chapel beneath the said church, by the name and title of Bl. Nicholas of Tolentino and of holy Rest, for the peaceful and tranquil state of the city and people of Ancona.
[29] After these things are enumerated the names of those who laid the first stones in the foundations, and altars and at last there is subjoined: In the year from the Nativity of the same our God and Lord Jesus Christ 1339, in the 6th Indiction, on the 9th day of the month of November, in the time of the lord Pope Benedict XII, on the Dedication of the basilica of the Saviour; in testimony of which matter Friar Jacopo of Ancona, Prior of the said place and Order, caused these present letters to be made and to be fortified with the seals of all the aforesaid (namely of those who had been present at the solemn laying of the foundations). He cites moreover a memorial of the foundation and dedication of this church inscribed on a marble tablet; in which the year 1338 is marked with the same Indiction, and with the same day and month.
[30] That an altar was erected to him at Pisa also, and perhaps elsewhere too, erected, and his feast celebrated: and that his feast day was wont to be celebrated in the same century, we learn from Herrera in the Alphabet, where he has the following: I have found also in the Registers of the Order, on the 8th of July in the year 1387, these words of the Prior general speaking of the convent of Pisa: "To him we have granted that he may receive 506 pounds, which he is to have from those of Bondi, to be likewise converted into possessions for the endowments of the altars of St. Nicholas of Tolentino and of St. Ursula," etc. And on the 9th day of June in the year 1388: "From now to the feast of Bl. Nicholas of Tolentino next to come." And on the 22nd day of January in the year 1389: "We have appointed and made Friar Paolo of Tolentino chaplain and lector of the oratory or chapel of St. Nicholas of Tolentino," etc.
[31] Nor indeed was this veneration toward St. Nicholas only that of the people, notable indulgences granted by Boniface IX but Boniface IX also endowed the chapel of the same Saint at Tolentino with notable indulgences, to increase the concourse of the people, as the aforesaid Herrera testifies, who in the place just cited continues in these words: And what is more, Boniface IX, by a Bull given at Rome on the Kalends of March in the second year of his Pontificate, and of Christ 1391, granted the indulgence of the Portiuncula to those visiting the chapel of St. Nicholas (so the Pontiff calls him) of Tolentino on his festival. Mention is made of this Pontifical grant in the acts of the chapter of Würzburg celebrated in the year 1391, where it is thus had: "Likewise, that the fame of our Order may be more widely spread, and that devotion may grow more abundantly among the people of God, we determine and by the present determination admonish the Provincial [*] and local Priors, and exhort them in the Lord, that in their pious instructions they publish, both by themselves and by their subjects, the grace and indulgence granted by the Apostolic See to the convent of Tolentino on the day of Bl. Nicholas by the most holy Father in Christ and our Lord, the lord Boniface, by divine providence Pope the ninth, under the form in which the most serene city of Venice has the same from the See on the feast of the Ascension in the church of St. Mark.
[32] granted on the Saint's feast: Leading on the worshippers of Christ, both in counsels and in confessions and exhortations, to the going and pilgrimage to the church and convent of Bl. Nicholas of Tolentino, expressed above, on the day of his deposition, which is kept on the 10th day of the month of September; willing that the provincial Priors in their provinces, and each Prior, admonish their subjects, and the other Friars, to perform the like; adding that at the least to four Friars of their provinces, wishing to go to the often-mentioned convent, their Provincials ought to grant leave, unless some case should stand in the way to prevent it."
[33] an error of Herrera is corrected. From this decree of the chapter of Würzburg, which Giuseppe Panfilo in his Chronicle likewise notes to have been celebrated in the same year 1391, it is established that notable indulgences were granted by Boniface on the feast day of St. Nicholas to those visiting his church at Tolentino: but Herrera was greatly mistaken when, confusing these with others which the same Pontiff some years later bestowed upon the same church, he called it the indulgence of the Portiuncula. The cause of the error was the misunderstood year of the Pontificate, which, since it was marked as the 11th in the Bull presently to be reported, he by an easy slip of the figures XI and II interpreted as the second, and therefore referred it to the year of Christ 1391, which should have been referred to 1400. Further, that this grant of indulgences is different from that one Torelli shows at the year 1391, numbers 4 and 5, rightly observing among other things that the former, which the chapter of Würzburg mentions, were attached to the feast itself under that form in which the most serene city of Venice has the same from the See on the feast of the Ascension in the church of St. Mark; but the latter to the first Sunday after the feast, on the model of those which are called of the Portiuncula. More the reader will understand from the Bull presently to be subjoined.
[34] Likewise other indulgences Giuseppe Panfilo, bishop of Segni, in the Chronicles of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, has this to our purpose: In the year 1400 Boniface the ninth, Supreme Pontiff, grants yearly the same indulgence and remission of sins which is at Assisi on the feast of the Portiuncula, to those visiting the chapel of blessed Nicholas of Tolentino on the Sunday immediately following the feast of the same blessed Nicholas, from first Vespers until the whole of that Sunday; and he wills that the Prior of the monastery of St. Augustine of Tolentino, with five other priests appointed by him, may for ten days before the said Sunday, when they have heard their confessions, absolve from all cases (unless they be reserved to the Apostolic See) the faithful who flock together yearly for the said indulgence, and enjoin upon them a salutary penance.
[35] by the same Boniface Take the Bull itself from the Bullarium of Lorenzo Empoli. Although he, from whose gift it comes that he should be worthily and laudably served by his faithful, out of the abundance of his goodness, which exceeds the merits and prayers of suppliants, repays to those who serve him well far more than they can deserve; nevertheless, desiring to render the people acceptable to the Lord and a follower of good works, we invite the faithful themselves to please him by as it were certain alluring gifts, namely indulgences and remissions, that thereby they may be rendered fitter for the divine grace.
[36] Desiring therefore that the chapel of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, for the Sunday within the Octave yearly situated beside the church of St. Augustine, of the diocese of Camerino, may be frequented with fitting honours, and that the faithful of Christ may the more willingly flock to it for devotion's sake, the more abundantly they shall behold themselves refreshed there by the gift of heavenly grace; trusting in the mercy of almighty God and in the authority of his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, we grant by Apostolic authority to all truly penitent and confessed who on the Sunday immediately following the feast of that St. Nicholas, from first vespers through the whole of that Sunday, shall devoutly have visited that chapel, that same indulgence and remission of sins yearly, which those who visit the church of blessed Mary in Portiuncula, otherwise called of the Angels, outside the walls of Assisi, in any way obtain yearly by the aforesaid authority on the first and second days of the month of August.
[37] And nevertheless, that the faithful themselves flocking to the said chapel on this Sunday with an ample power of absolving may the more abundantly obtain (God being favourable) peace of conscience and salvation of souls, and may be made partakers of this indulgence, we grant by the present tenor to our beloved son the Prior of St. Augustine of Tolentino of the said diocese, who shall be for the time being, the faculty by the aforesaid authority of appointing, by himself and by five fit priests, secular or Religious, who, and also the Prior himself, having diligently heard the confessions of all the faithful of Christ of this kind who flock to that chapel yearly for ten days before the said Sunday and on that day, and who wish to confess to them, may by our authority bestow upon them the benefit of due absolution for what they have committed, except in cases reserved to the Apostolic See, and may enjoin a salutary penance.
[38] But we will that, if any other indulgence, to last in perpetuity or for a certain time not yet elapsed, granted to those visiting the tomb has already been granted by us to those visiting that chapel, or lending helping hands to its building or preservation, or otherwise bestowing pious alms there, or otherwise, these present letters shall be of no strength or moment. Given at Rome at St. Peter's, on the Kalends of March, in the eleventh year of our Pontificate. Thus the aforesaid Empoli, from the original Bull, which with its leaden seal is preserved at Rome in the archive of the Order, number 2, as he had premised.
[39] From the year of the Pontificate noted and from the Kalends of March, in the year 1400 we draw out that this Bull was given in the year of Christ 1400, as Panfilo rightly has it, and not in 1401, as Empoli faultily noted in the margin. For Boniface at the beginning
of November in the year 1389 he was created Pontiff, and in the same month crowned; and so his eleventh year was running on the Kalends of March in the year 1400, and was completed in the month of November of the same year. For the rest, Torelli, at this year, num. 23, observes that the aforesaid indulgences and the faculty expressed in the Bull were still in force at Tolentino in the year 1679, when he was writing, with a numerous concourse of pilgrims to the aforesaid church — not only from the March of Ancona but from other regions as well — on the Sunday which next follows the Saint's feast. From this we gather that the indulgences which the chapter of Würzburg commemorates were either revoked, or granted only for a few years then already elapsed, since the Pontiff willed that later ones contained in this Bull should otherwise be void.
[40] Before his canonization he is called Saint. It is also worthy of note that Nicholas, while the process of canonization was still pending and he had not yet been ranked among the Saints by the Pontiff, was nevertheless honored by that same Pontiff with the title of Saint. Finally, how great a throng of people was even then accustomed to flow to his tomb may be gathered from the faculty granted by the same Boniface, in the aforesaid Bull, to the Prior of Tolentino: namely, of choosing five priests with whom, through eleven days, he might administer the Sacrament of penance to those who were to gain the indulgences. Let this suffice concerning the cult publicly rendered to the Saint before his canonization; more indications of the same argument will present themselves in the course of the work. Meanwhile I proceed to the canonization.
Annotata* Torel. Provinciales &c.
§ IV. He is enrolled among the Saints by Pope Eugenius IV: the Bull of canonization is reviewed.
[ ] He is enrolled among the Saints About 140 years had passed since the Saint's death when Pope Eugenius IV at last happily brought to its long-desired end the cause of canonization begun by John XXII a hundred and twenty years before. Of this most joyful event we have as witness St. Antoninus, a contemporary author, who in part 3 of his Histories, title 22, chap. XI, §17, writes thus of Eugenius: At length, arriving at the city of Rome, he was received with honor and gladness. And while he was there, since the blessed man Nicholas of Tolentino, of the Order of Hermits, who had died very many years before, had shone with many miracles, which were recited in public consistory, Eugenius enrolled him in the catalogue of the Saints by the common counsel and assent of the Cardinals and prelates, and delivered his feast to all the faithful to be celebrated and observed.
[42] by Eugenius IV The time at which these things were done we have from the Chronicle of Joseph Pamphilus, in which I read this: When Eugenius IV had learned of his sanctity from innumerable men, and those most worthy of credit, and of the multitude and greatness of his miracles, which had at no time been interrupted, then — the œcumenical Council of Florence having been celebrated, the Armenians and Indians coming together into the unity of the faith, and peace having at last been agreed between the Roman and the Greek Church — he returned to Rome and enrolled the blessed man Nicholas among the Saints: for, proceeding from the church of St. Peter with all the clergy in public supplication to the church of St. Augustine, the same Pontiff celebrated the solemnities of Mass, with a great assembly of all the Cardinals and prelates, the Roman people also standing by, in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and forty-six, on the Nones of June, which was the second feria of Pentecost.
[43] on the 5th day of June. Among the proper Offices of the Hermits of St. Augustine that festivity is prescribed to be kept yearly on the fifth day of June, and there the same year and the same day of the month — but which is more correctly said to have fallen then upon the very day of Pentecost — is assigned in this manner: Who (Eugenius IV), having celebrated the œcumenical Council of Florence and returned to the City, when the deeds and miracles of the blessed Man, more than three hundred in number, had again been duly and in order examined and approved, enrolled him with solemn pomp in the Calendar of the Saints in the year after the birth of Christ one thousand four hundred and forty-six, on the Nones of June, the day of Pentecost then falling on that very day. Among the Usuardine Auctaria also, in our Sollerius, the Lübeck-Cologne edition mentions this canonization at the fifth of June in these words: On the same day, the Canonization of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, priest and confessor, of the Order of Hermits. These things do not permit us to doubt that the solemnity of the canonization did in fact take place on the fifth day of June.
[44] John Stella, reported in Papebroch, part two of the Conatus ad Catalogum Romanorum Pontificum, in the year 1446. p. 119, speaks more obscurely; for he has it thus: And he (Eugenius) died in the year from the Lord's nativity MCCCCXXXXVI, on the XII Kalends of March, in the LXIV year of his age, in which year indeed he enrolled Bl. Nicholas of Tolentino among the holy confessors. Now Eugenius died in our common year 1447; but the year noted by Stella, the reckoning being begun from the XXV of March, falls partly in the common year 1446 and partly in 1447, and therefore it cannot be said with certainty which of the two he meant to designate — especially because the Bull of canonization was first issued in the latter, as we shall show below. Nevertheless, since it is clear from what has been said that the solemnity of the canonization was performed by Eugenius on the fifth day of June, and since the Bull mentioned is signed on the Kalends of February in the common year 1447, in which year and month Eugenius died, it must altogether be said that the canonization of St. Nicholas fell in the common year of Christ 1446.
[45] The Account of the life of our Saint, recited before Eugenius IV for his canonization, 301 miracles approved: we have given above under the title of the second Life, on the credit of Dominic Gandolfi, who asserts that he excerpted it from a manuscript codex of the library of St. Augustine at Siena, and says that besides it there exists in the same library the Process formerly drawn up by order of John XXII by the bishops of Senigallia and Cesena; but neither this, nor the miracles which he affirms are subjoined to the said Account, have come into my hands: see, however, what is said in nn. 8 and 10 of the preliminary Commentary. Further, three hundred and one miracles, for the proof of which three hundred and seventy-one witnesses were examined, were noted down in the registers and were then read out before Eugenius IV in public consistory, as he himself testified in the Bull to be reviewed below. Torelli relates from report that the consistorial advocate recited those three hundred miracles from memory without any hesitation; and that, since Eugenius accounted this as a kind of prodigy, he ordered by him that this too should be added to the remaining three hundred, and that thus they were reckoned three hundred and one. But he himself admits that these things are reported by him only from hearsay.
[46] More certain are the things which are read at the fifth of June, on which the Saint's canonization is commemorated, a drowned boy comes to life again: in the proper Offices of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, in these words: For the rest, this very celebration was ennobled by a signal miracle: for a boy, the son of a certain trumpeter, thrown from the Ælian bridge into the Tiber by the pressing of the crowds, and at length scarcely drawn out lifeless by the work of divers, revived a little afterwards, to the utmost wonder of all, his father having made a vow to St. Nicholas for him. Torelli has the same, who writes that these things happened while the Pontiff was proceeding to the church of the Augustinians in order to enroll Nicholas there among the Saints with solemn rite.
[47] The prayer which the Pontiff used at this solemnity is recited by Joseph Pamphilus in his Chronicle, the prayer which he then used: and it is the same which is prescribed for the yearly festivity of the Canonization in the Offices just praised. Take Joseph's words: And so Pope Eugenius, who had with a certain singular zeal enrolled him in the number of the Saints, chanted for him a prayer, exceedingly pious and memorable, woven of these words: Grant, we beseech thee, almighty God, that thy Church, which at the end of the ages by thine ineffable providence shines with the greatness of the virtues and miracles of blessed Nicholas thy confessor, may by his merits and intercession, errors being cast out, rejoice in perpetual peace and unity. Through our Lord.
[48] The peace of the Church followed, Moreover the peace and unity of the Church, which Eugenius asked in this prayer, and which afterwards followed upon the removal of all schism, Pope Sixtus V ascribes to the merits of St. Nicholas in a Bull given on the XXII of January in the year 1585 for the celebration of his Office with double rite, in which he speaks thus: After his enrollment among the number of the Saints there arose that most celebrated and greatest miracle, that the Roman Church, already for more than fifty years grievously afflicted with the dissensions of schisms, by the merits and intercession of this blessed Man, errors being removed, obtained beyond hope the highest peace.
[49] it is ascribed to the Saint's merits. Hence also in the Office of his canonization, at the fifth day of June, it is read: But this too was most celebrated, sought by the vow of Eugenius himself and confirmed by the oracle of his successor Pontiffs: that the Roman Church, already for more than fifty years shaken by the various whirlwinds of schisms, by the merits and intercession of St. Nicholas, errors being cast out, obtained beyond hope the highest tranquillity. For the German princes, who had wavered in a long-continued neutrality between Eugenius and the Fathers of Basel, in the year 1446 rendered obedience to that Pontiff, as may be seen in Francis Pagi's Breviarium Pontificum, in Rainaldus's Annals, and in others; while Felix V the antipope, that is Amadeus duke of Savoy, abandoned by all, laid down his pseudo-papacy and acknowledged Nicholas V, the successor of Eugenius, as the lawful Pontiff and Vicar of Christ on earth; and thus the schism of Basel was at last utterly extinguished.
[50] The Bull of canonization published But although Nicholas was, as we have seen, enrolled among the Saints on the fifth day of June in the year 1446, Eugenius nevertheless did not direct the Bull of canonization to the faithful until the following year — for what cause we do not know. This Bull is extant in various authors, signed indeed with the same day of the month and the same year of the Pontificate, but not with the same year of Christ. In Laërtius Cherubinus, tom. 1 of the Bullarium, and in Justus Fontaninus, who followed him, in the Codex canonizationum, it is noted: Given at Rome at St. Peter's, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation MCDXLVII, on the Kalends of February, in the sixteenth year — namely of the Pontificate of Eugenius. In the same way reads Odoricus Rainaldus, tom. 18 of the Annales Ecclesiastici, at the year of Christ 1447, num. 8, where he adds: Which (the XVI year of the Pontificate of Eugenius) falls in this year (1447); wherefore I wonder that this is thrown back by some most accurate recent writers into the preceding year.
[51] in the pontifical year 1446, But Laurentius Empolius, in the Bullarium of the Order of St. Augustine, reciting the same Bull from an authentic transcript of the auditor of the chamber, which is kept at Rome in the archive of the Order, num. 2, reads 1446 in place of the year of the Incarnation 1447. And rightly so: for otherwise it would have been given in the common year of Christ 1448, in which Eugenius had already died. For Eugenius, in signing his Bulls, began the years from the Incarnation of the Lord, that is from the XXV of March, as Papebroch shows at length in the Conatus ad Catalogum Romanorum Pontificum; and the scruple which he there conceives, from the three last Bulls of the same Pontiff — of which this is the first — concerning a change of style in the final years of his life, vanishes upon the Bullarium of Empolius, from which it is clear that in this Bull too the former method of signing was kept by Eugenius.
[52] Our common year therefore preceded by about three months, namely from the first of January to the XXV of March, the year then customarily used in the Roman curia; and therefore, if Eugenius
had ascribed the year 1447 to the Bull praised above, it would have to be referred to our common year 1448 — which cannot be said, since Eugenius ceased to live in the month of February of the common year 1447. Into the opposite error fell Henry Spondanus, the continuator of Baronius's Annals, when, finding the year 1446 subscribed to the Bull mentioned, he tied it to our common year 1446, not adverting to the fact that the XVI year of the Pontificate of Eugenius coincided, on the Kalends of February, with the common year 1447. Now receive the Bull itself, as it stands in Empolius.
[53] Eugenius, bishop, servant of the servants of God. it is set forth. To all the faithful of Christ who shall inspect the present letters, greeting and Apostolic benediction. Although the Church militant on earth venerates the Church triumphant in heaven with a filial and devout affection, and exalts with most worthy titles the virtues, praises, and commendations of the Saints so far as human frailty allows, and with devout prayers offers by solemn rite the sacrifices of praise unto the honor and veneration of the citizens above, yet nothing of new perfection and glory accrues to them, nor can their most holy felicity be strengthened or increased by our works; nevertheless the merciful and compassionate Lord, through the intercessions and merits of the Saints whom we venerate on earth with fitting celebration, has by a wonderful condescension provided that what is imperfect in us should be supplied, and [*] that what we are not able to do by our own merits we may obtain by their suffrages.
[54] The eternal God therefore, who alone doeth great wonders, brought forth Nicholas, renowned for holiness and miracles brought forth by his infinite wisdom his excellent confessor Nicholas of Tolentino, brought up from his boyhood in the approved Religion of the Friars Hermits of St. Augustine, shining with purity, fruitful in charity, chosen out of thousands, a most resplendent exemplar; proving the excellence of his singular life by signs and prodigies, and manifesting it by constant and frequent miracles. Let the heavens therefore be glad, let the earth exult, and let the whole world likewise rejoice, when the citizens of heaven furnish a spacious lodging in heaven to him who, while he lived, shone forth in the temple of God.
[55] And so, when this blessed Man had ended his life, John XXII wished to enroll him among the Saints. his fame and the utmost devotion of the peoples toward him increasing, Pope John XXII of happy memory, our predecessor, presiding with his curia at Avignon, began with his Brethren to treat of his canonization; which, had not his own death and the horrible schisms intervened, he would beyond doubt have brought to completion.
[56] This blessed Nicholas, then, born of honorable parents from Castel Sant'Angelo within the diocese of Fermo, On account of the Saint's virtues, shunning the companionship of boys, frequented the churches and the divine mysteries; and lest we run through [] the illustrious works of his shining life in a long and wide discourse, it pleases us to relate a few things out of many, that from these those who are in the way of the Lord may glorify the Father, as is fitting. This Saint indeed, while yet of tender age, kept himself under the great discipline of Religion with the utmost obedience and humility, chastising his body; he applied himself to fastings, vigils, and prayers, devout, grateful, humble, obedient, kindly, gentle, pious, patient, constant, mature, composed; and by certain spices of the virtues he drew very many to himself, so that [] he was so great a cultivator of faith that all his words and works breathed the virtue [*] of faith.
[57] a blessed death He was an assiduous consoler of the afflicted and the sick; and at last, modest, chaste, temperate, reverent, and cheerful, coming to the evening of his life, he merited to hear from heaven: Well done, good servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord. Thus the grain of wheat, falling into the earth and dying, rises up into a rich ear; thus the cluster of grapes, trodden in the winepress, overflows into an abundance of liquor; thus the kingdom of heaven is received, and the Saints by faith have overcome sublime kingdoms. But because it befitted the greatness of the divine Goodness that he [] whom he had adorned on earth with illustrious virtues should be proved by sure testimonies to reign in heaven — for he made him renowned by many and great miracles, both while he lived and after his death — certain of these, proved [] by most worthy witnesses, we have thought fit to note down in the present letters, for the sake of avoiding a burdensome multitude.
[58] and miracles before his death A certain man was so ruined in his left side that he could in no way move his hand or foot on that side, nor see anything with his left eye; after the antidotes and eye-salves of very many physicians had been tried in vain, this Saint touched that side with the sign of the Cross and blessed the man; who, rising at once from his pallet, was made to see and was wholly delivered. And a certain woman, suffering an issue of blood for three years together, coming to Nicholas and most devoutly kissing his hand, begged him to offer prayers to the Lord for the recovery of her health: the Saint himself signed her with the sign of the Cross, and she departed delivered. And these things were before his death.
[59] and after his death, But after his death: when a certain boy of four years had fallen into a mill-race, and had lain continuously between the wheel and the water for such a space of time as a man walking well would commonly have walked a mile, and was at length laboriously drawn out dead and accounted as dead — a vow having first been made by his mother that, if he were restored to life by the help of blessed Nicholas, she would clothe him upon the holy tomb in the habit of Religion — by the help of the aforesaid Saint he appeared alive. Moreover, a certain man was found hanged and dead in his own house, and upon prayers and a vow made to Bl. Nicholas by his wife he was made alive, and thereafter survived a long time.
[60] three hundred and one approved, He also worked very many miracles both in his life and after his death; and he raised from death several persons of both sexes, gave light to the blind and delivered them from diseases of the eyes, set upright those contracted and drawn out in their limbs and the lame, healed paralytics of the impotence of their limbs and of trembling of the head and limbs; delivered the possessed, captives, and prisoners with apparitions and revelations; delivered those falling and dashed down [*], persons from shipwrecks and from captivity, from the loss of goods, and from fevers, from consumption, from dropsy, from gout, from pains of the flanks and of the stomach and of the heart, and from other infirmities, and restored them to their former health. All of which — three hundred and one miracles, for the proof of which three hundred and seventy-one witnesses were examined — were noted down in the registers and reported before Us in public consistory.
[61] By these therefore and other wondrous works, which establish this Saint's holiness and the power of the Christian faith, the faithful petitioning, Eugenius IV the tongue of miracles speaking, the people flocked to Us from every side; the fame and devotion concerning these things grew; the Lord is praised for his saving graces, and thanks are rendered to the Author of salvation. The common and celebrated report of these things prevailed, and the voice of exultation of very many, of prelates also, resounded to us, and obtained that by our authority an inquiry should be made concerning the said matters. First indeed we committed it to our venerable brother John, bishop of Palestrina, and to our beloved sons John, priest of the title of St. Laurence in Lucina, and Prosper, deacon of St. George at the Golden Veil, Cardinals, that they should diligently inquire into the truth of the premises and into the continuation of the miracles; and by their report, and the truth of the continuation of the miracles being proved [*], We and our venerable brethren the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church were informed concerning the wonderful life, the miracles, and the glorious merits of the same Saint.
[62] when he declares him a Saint, and appoints his yearly feast, And because we found the things concerning this Saint to be greater and more numerous than had been intimated, by the counsel and assent of the aforesaid brethren, with very many prelates of the church standing by, trusting in the power of almighty God and of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and in our own authority, we have thought fit to enroll the same blessed Nicholas in the catalogue of the holy confessors. Therefore we admonish and earnestly exhort you all, commanding and charging you by these Apostolic writings, that on the fourth of the Ides of September, on which the Saint himself passed to the Lord, you devoutly and solemnly celebrate his feast, and cause it to be celebrated by all with fitting veneration, that by his pious intercession you may be able both to be protected here from harm and hereafter to obtain everlasting joys.
[63] and grants indulgences to those who will visit his tomb And that the multitude of Christ's faithful may flock the more ardently to his venerable sepulchre, and that the festivity of the same Confessor may be the more solemnly observed, to all who are truly penitent and confessed, who shall come thither with devotion and reverence on that feast, yearly to seek his suffrages, trusting in the mercy of almighty God and in the authority of his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, we mercifully relax seven years and as many quadragenes of the penances enjoined upon them. Given at Rome at St. Peter's, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand four hundred and forty-six, on the Kalends of February, in the sixteenth year of our Pontificate: that is, in the common year of Christ 1447, as we showed at the beginning of this §. But why Eugenius deferred publishing this Bull of canonization until this time is unknown to me.
Annotata* read: ut
* read: percurramus
* read: adeoque
* another reading: virtutem
* read: ut
* perhaps probata
* another reading: allisos
* another reading: etiam
§ V. The Saint's ecclesiastical Office, old and new.
[ ] He is celebrated with an ecclesiastical Office. It cannot be doubted that the cult of Nicholas, now enrolled among the Saints, took no slight increase among the faithful, who before his canonization had so eagerly venerated him on account of the multitude of his benefits. Yet I think it will not be unwelcome to the reader if I set forth in this § a few things pertaining to his cult. Cajetan Maria Merati, in the enlarged Thesaurus of sacred rites of Bartholomew Gavanti, tom. 2, part 1, sect. 7, chap. XI, notes this concerning the Saint's ecclesiastical Office: X Nicholas of Tolentino. In the Vatican Breviary, vol. 4760. He is restored by Sixtus V in MDLXXXV, with an Office and a double rite; but a comparison having been made with Nicholas bishop of Myra, from whom this Nicholas came forth into the light (that is, by whose prayers and patronage he was born), Clement VIII decreed that the feast should be kept with a semidouble rite, and changed the prayer… Double again by Clement IX. Thus he; upon which some things occur to be noted.
[65] The feast of Nicholas, on the tenth day of September, on which he had died, we have seen above at num. 62 to have been appointed by Eugenius IV in the year 1447 to be celebrated yearly, and so from that time he seems to have been venerated throughout the whole Church of Christ with an ecclesiastical Office, whether proper or common. What that Office was, of which Merati has just made mention, he does not explain; nor does he explain the age of the Vatican Breviary which he praises. No less uncertain is it to me whether the recitation of that Office was omitted by lapse of time, as the praised author intimates when he asserts that it was restored by Sixtus V in the year 1585. The Bull of Sixtus is given by Laërtius Cherubinus in the Bullarium, tom. 2, Constitution 16 among the Sixtine ones; and I have thought it not useless to insert it here to the Saint's glory.
[66] The Bull by which Pope Sixtus V Sixtus, bishop, servant of the servants of God. For the perpetual memory of the matter. The holy Roman universal Church, those whom almighty God crowns in heaven, shining like the sun in his sight, with pious cult and admirable honor through the
circuit of the year — for the most part on the day on which it befell them to pass to the heavenly kingdoms — has willed to be venerated on earth; that the faithful of Christ, kindled by their glorious memory and inflamed by their examples, through the exercise of good works, aided also by pious suffrages, may be able the more easily to acknowledge the glory of the divine Majesty in his Saints, and to merit his benefits. To this praiseworthy number of the Saints, then, Bl. Nicholas of Tolentino — of whose life, converse, and holy falling asleep in the Lord the people of Tolentino make their boast — having embraced the Regular institutes of the Hermits of St. Augustine, made his way with such purity and integrity of life that the sanctity of that Man was propagated and diffused far and wide through the various regions of the world, even to the West Indies.
[67] The Saint's Office Drawn therefore by the signs of miracles, in which the inexhaustible kindness of God willed to work in his life and after his death, John XXII and Innocent VI of happy memory first concurred in enrolling him in the number of the Saints, and afterwards Eugenius IV of pious memory — Roman Pontiffs, our predecessors — enrolled him with solemn rite in the catalogue of those same Saints. After his enrollment among the number of the Saints there arose that most celebrated and greatest miracle, that the Roman Church, already for more than fifty years grievously afflicted with the dissensions of schisms, by the merits and intercession of this blessed Man, errors being removed, obtained beyond hope the highest peace.
[68] he orders to be celebrated with double rite. Wherefore we, who while constituted in minor orders presided over the church of Fermo, in whose diocese stands the town of Sant'Angelo where the holy Nicholas himself was born, wishing to adorn the name and sanctity of the same Bl. Nicholas with worthy honors, so far as our infirmity allows, do by this our present constitution command that the feast day of the same Bl. Nicholas, the glorious confessor, be kept on the fourth of the Ides of September, and that hereafter it be celebrated every year in perpetual times to come, throughout all the churches of the whole Christian world, with a double and proper Office — and where proper ones are lacking, from the common of confessors not pontiffs — and that it be inscribed in the Roman Calendar with the addition of "double feast." But if anywhere the above-said feast day of Bl. Nicholas has been accustomed, from the devotion or usage of the faithful, or by Apostolic precept or indult, to be celebrated with some greater observance, let that by all means be retained there. Commanding all patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, and the other prelates of the churches constituted in the whole world, that each of them cause these our present letters to be solemnly published in their own churches, provinces, cities, and dioceses, and to be by all means observed by ecclesiastical persons, secular, and by Regulars of whatsoever Orders, although in the last reformations of the Breviary and the Missal the notice of this solemnity was not inserted… Given at Rome at St. Peter's, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation MDLXXXV, on the X Kalends of January, in the 1st year of our Pontificate.
[69] I have at hand Roman Breviaries older than Sixtus V, Certain things concerning this Office from which it is clear that by the Bull which we have reviewed he only restored the former Office of St. Nicholas, or endowed it with a greater rite, and did not institute it for the first time. One of these, printed at Venice in the year 1522, prescribes at the tenth day of September an Office of nine Lessons with proper hymns and antiphons. In the same, at the fifth of June, the canonization of St. Nicholas of Tolentino is commemorated. There are also two other Breviaries of the Roman Church, one printed at Venice in the year 1479, the other in 1518, in the prefatory Calendar of each of which the feast of St. Nicholas is noted at the same day of September, and in the latter besides, at the fifth of June, the Canonization also. As regards Clement VIII, he held the supreme Pontificate from the year of Christ 1592 until 1605; but in what year he reduced the said Office to a semidouble rite I have not found.
[70] The prayer which Merati says was changed by Clement VIII seems to have been that very one which we have reported at num. 47, from Joseph Pamphilus, as used by Eugenius IV at the solemnity of the canonization: for this is still recited in the Breviary of the year 1522 just mentioned, and in the Propers of the Hermits of St. Augustine; but in its place there succeeded that which is prescribed in the more recent Roman Breviaries, namely from the common of a confessor not a Pontiff: Adesto Domine &c. For the rest, I doubt whether, for Clement IX, of whom he writes that the Office was raised to a double rite, Clement X ought not to be substituted; for Torelli notes the latter at the year of Christ 1345, num. 23, and Baillet in the Life.
[71] The Augustinian Fathers celebrate their holy Thaumaturge with a twofold festivity each year: are noted, namely on the fifth day of June his canonization, with a double Office, and on the tenth of September his birthday with a double of the second class with an Octave. That this custom of celebrating the Saint through an octave was already in force in Italy in the XV century, Torelli relates at the year of Christ 1493, num. 12, where, concerning the assembly of the Spanish congregation held then, he has this: In this chapter two decrees were issued: the first, that the principal feasts of the seraphic mother Monica and of St. Nicholas of Tolentino should be kept with a greater double rite; the second, that their Octave should be celebrated with the same rite as that of St. John the Baptist, as had been customary in the Roman and Italian regions. Let these things suffice concerning the Saint's public cult throughout the Church; for concerning that which has been rendered to him by particular towns or persons, we shall treat more fittingly in the course of the work.
§ VI. The prodigies wrought at the cutting off and theft of the arms: the hidden body still lies concealed: the same Arms honored at Tolentino.
[ ] The prodigies of both arms cut off I come now to that signal prodigy of the sacred body which was the beginning of so many others that, by the wonderful providence of God, occurred in successive times: I speak of the Saint's two arms cut off by an impious daring, and of the prodigies which afterwards followed. The memory of this matter is extant everywhere among all who have written of the deeds and miracles of St. Nicholas; nor is it any objection that nothing of it is read in his biographer Peter of Monte Rubiano, nothing in Jordan of Saxony: for the former composed his little work many years before it happened; and the latter, though he seems indeed to have published his Lives of the Brethren later, yet reviewed in his little work only those prodigies which he judged more suited to instill the love of virtue in others, and deferred the remaining miracles of St. Nicholas to a special Treatise, which we grieve to have perished, as we noted at num. 3 of the preliminary Commentary.
[73] on what foundation they rest. In the Process also, which we have said was drawn up under John XXII in the year 1325 and the following, nothing likewise can be recorded of this prodigy, because, namely, that Process preceded it by many years. But I wonder at the deep silence concerning so memorable a prodigy in the Bull of canonization published by Eugenius IV in the year 1447 — unless perhaps Eugenius thought it should be passed over in silence, lest he should at the same time publish abroad the bold and sacrilegious crime of a certain lay Brother. Certainly this silence of Eugenius would render the matter not a little suspect to me, did not the constant consent of writers — whose interest it in no way was to invent the crime of one of their own brethren — and the arms themselves, which are to this day preserved at Tolentino separated from the rest of the body, persuade the contrary. And among the writers in whom I have found the memory of this matter, the most ancient is Ambrose of Siena, who, on the testimony of Herrera and Torelli, printed a Life of St. Nicholas at Venice in the year 1511 in the Italian tongue, which Scipio Jardinus rendered into Latin and printed at Macerata in the year 1592.
[74] The Saint's arms, cut off, He then, in chap. 25, has this to our purpose: No reason indeed allows that a certain signal miracle of that same most holy body should be passed over in silence, which we have received on the faithful testimony of very many Brethren of our Hermit Religion to have come to pass. It is of this kind: When St. Nicholas had been committed to burial in the ground in the church of our Religion at Tolentino, in which place he had died, it came about that, on account of the illustrious miracles which issued from him unceasingly day by day, at length after the course of forty years and somewhat more our Hermit Brethren exhumed his sacred body, and hid it above ground in the sacristy of the church, enclosed in a chosen chest which they had assigned to that sacred body, and there permitted it to remain and abide.
[75] Which a certain Hermit Brother, a German man, flow with blood, and cannot be carried away: who did the work of the kitchen, observing, out of devotion of soul, and that it might be an honor to Germany his fatherland, firmly resolved in his mind to carry off the arms of the divine Nicholas and to bear them away in swift flight into his own country; and therefore on a certain night, entering by stealth through a secret way, he made for the sacristy, broke open the holy chest, and by cutting tore away and severed the most holy arms of the divine Nicholas from his sacred body. Whereupon the sacred blood began to flow forth so very swiftly and with so vehemently and wonderfully abundant a plenty from the cut parts, that far richer fountains of blood streamed thence, in rivulets running down at once, than if that German man had cut the sacred arms from the living body of St. Nicholas while he yet lived. Nor moreover could the German man ever, by any strong effort whatsoever, go out of that sacristy with those sacred relics.
[76] But when morning came, the rest of the Hermit Brethren of his convent caught this thief with the sacred and wholly manifest theft in his hands, in the place of the crime, namely in the sacristy itself; this blood distributed to many. and with the deepest devotion of soul and with floods of tears they each with careful zeal gathered that most holy blood into very many vessels. Which sacred blood thereafter began, and still continues, to work day by day wondrous and inexplicably lofty miracles; and it was munificently divided in various portions among various men illustrious either in lordship or in nobility, and by liberal gift very many private persons, even of lower condition, were piously presented with some portion of that blood. And at Venice, within a certain noble tabernacle in the church of St. Stephen, no small part of his blood reposes; and likewise at Venice another certain portion is possessed by the nuns of St. Andrew; and the island of Cyprus, within its city named Nicosia, and very many other places indeed of the terrestrial globe, have obtained this blessed blood, and among those peoples it is kept, shining with miracles.
[77] Thus Ambrose of Siena, or rather Scipio Jardinus, who rendered his little work into Latin: The accounts of others concerning these prodigies and Torelli agrees as to the substance, though he varies in certain circumstances. In the first place, recording nothing of the sacred body being exhumed after forty or more years, he fixes the said prodigies in the forty-first year after the Saint's death, and therefore in the year of Christ 1345. He writes that that lay Brother, whom they call a Convert, was assigned not to the services of the kitchen but of the sacristy; and that the blood itself was first gathered not by the other Augustinians but by the German himself, into two dishes, and, when these were full, into cotton; and that, since the arms nonetheless streamed with blood, these were wrapped by him in a cloth which he had taken from the altar, to be carried away into Germany. He adds that, as he fled, he was so deluded by divine power that, when toward dawn, utterly worn out, he seemed to himself to have gone far beyond the district of Tolentino, he was in his own convent
caught at Tolentino; and therefore, at a loss for any other counsel, he fell at the feet of his superior and begged pardon; and then by a new miracle again, when the cloth was unfolded, Manna appeared in place of blood.
[78] Nearly the same things are had by James Albericius, Ludovicus Zacconius, and others; with whom agrees the monument of this threefold miracle, the account, and the monument which they say is inscribed in a certain sacristy of the church of Tolentino in these words: A pious thief devises a sacred theft, that he may make his German fatherland illustrious []; he cuts the arms from the sacred body of the divine Nicholas; in the fortieth year from his death gore came forth; and while he wraps them in a clean linen cloth, manna is scattered everywhere; wearied by a long journey by night, while he believes himself far from Tolentino, he is deluded by divine art, and in clear daylight sees himself caught within the enclosure of the monastery; accusing and bewailing his bold deed, he asks [] kindly pardon for himself. Here the precious restored theft is venerated in vessels [*] of silver, gilded and set with gems — to be marveled at by all ages for three miracles.
[79] At Tolentino. How ancient this monument is none of them relates. Albericius, who wrote in the XVII century, only says: The memory of this stupendous event has been renewed in the sacristy, where these words are read &c.; by which he sufficiently intimates that that inscription is not very ancient, and therefore it is uncertain how much authority it deserves in its several particulars. But San-Martin doubtless used hyperbole when in his French Life of the Saint he wrote that the whole town of Tolentino was suffused with the odor of the aforesaid manna, which he believed had fallen from heaven. What further became of the sacred arms, of the bloodstained cloth, and of the manna, we shall say below, after we have noted some things about the rest of the Saint's body.
[80] The body thereafter hidden Torelli, at the year 1345, num. 16, writes that the sacred body of Nicholas, with both arms cut off at the elbows, lest it should thereafter lie open to thefts of this kind, was by the common counsel of the Order hidden in the same chapel indeed in which it had lain before, but in a place utterly unknown. He adds, however, that it is held by a certain tradition that that place is known only to the eldest of the whole monastery, who before his own death makes it known to another, lest it fall wholly out of memory; but he does not dare to assert this tradition as certain, although he had often heard it at Tolentino. The same tradition Zacconius either wholly did not know or rejected, when in part 1 of the Life, chap. 100, he writes that the place of the buried body lay entirely hidden after the death of those who had hidden it — though he warns that it is by no means to be sought outside the Saint's old chapel.
[81] has long lain concealed. Consonant with these are the things which our Papebroch, describing the church of St. Nicholas at Tolentino in his manuscript little book on his Roman journey, noted in these words: That church is the most adorned in the whole city: for it has panelled ceilings wholly carved and gilded, and beneath a handsome cornice five chapels on either side, elegant in plaster work, three of these gilded together with part of the cornice; while the choir, divided over nine sides as in a hemicycle, is notable for elegant painting and gilding. Besides these, an excellent frontispiece, and a new chapel in the left aisle beneath an octagonal cupola, lighted by eight square windows. And from the right aisle of the church there is a passage to a large square chapel, in which the body of the divine Nicholas is believed to be entombed, although the place is not sufficiently certain; and a splendid marble cenotaph is seen in the middle, and his image is religiously venerated, and very many votive offerings hang from the vault. The cenotaph which Papebroch here mentions is doubtless that very one which Zacconius, in part 1 of the Life, chap. 126, says was erected in the year 1474 by the most noble Roman family Melina in memory and honor of St. Nicholas; he warns, however, that the body of that Saint does not rest in it.
[82] Now, to return whence we digressed: the praised Torelli, at num. 16, continues thus in the Italian tongue concerning the severed arms: The arms enclosed in precious cases There were afterwards made two most splendid arms of gilded silver, which, with the sacred arms enclosed in them, are kept in a certain case fortified with iron plates, girt with a great chain, and locked with three keys, of which one has been entrusted to the most illustrious magistracy, another to the Prior of the convent, the third to the most noble family Maurizi, on account of their very great merits both toward the Saint himself and toward the Order. And when the aforesaid arms are exhibited to be seen, the magistrate comes with his key and solemnly attends. Zacconius, chap. 101, mentions only one case, common to both arms, lined within with silver plates and adorned with many precious gems, which he reports to be likewise shut up in the said greater chest. He adds in the same place that those sacred arms were at first wrapped in cloth, but afterwards clothed in precious sleeves, which the most illustrious marchioness Camilla Malvezzi had sent as a gift for that purpose, wrought by her own hand. But it will appear from what is to be said that each arm is kept in its own silver case, and that the bare flesh of them is seen through a crystal fitted to the case, and thus that those sleeves, if they were once clothed with them, have now been removed.
[83] For the place in which these precious pledges are kept, they are honored at Tolentino, he assigns the sacristy; and in this part the monument reported at num. 78 favors him. But Papebroch, cited at num. 81, says that that treasure is laid up beneath the altar of a certain chapel. From the same aisle, he says (of which at num. 81), there is an entrance into another large chapel next the choir, where the arm (rather, the arms) of the same Saint is kept beneath the altar in a chest bound round with iron; nor can it easily be seen, because one key is in the magistrate's keeping. Here nine lamps burn continually, and the veneration of the Saint is exceptional. To reconcile these accounts, it must be said either that the back side of the altar and the doors by which it is closed stand in the sacristy, or else that the relics were, after Zacconius's little work was published, carried from the sacristy to the said altar.
[84] As regards the blood which we said flowed from the severed arms, as also other things pertaining hereto. Zacconius, in part 1 of the Life, chap. 102 and 110, is authority that it is kept in a silver tabernacle skilfully wrought; while the cloth stained with that same blood, and the manna found upon it, are kept enclosed in another case made likewise of silver and crystal, and are guarded in the same chest as the sacred arms; and that both these cases are carried yearly in procession on St. Nicholas's feast day, and are wont to be exposed to the veneration of the faithful at the solemn Mass.
Annotata* another reading: illustraret
* another reading: poposcit
* rather: vasis
§ VII. The miracle of the blood frequently bursting forth from the Saint's arms: the eruptions that occurred in the year 1676.
[ ] The severed arms Prodigious indeed are the things which in the preceding § we related concerning the copious flow from the Saint's arms, cut off forty or perhaps more years after his death; but no less wonderful to me appear the spontaneous eruptions of blood from those same arms, so frequent that the excellent Father Gerard Melyn of Antwerp, Prior of the Augustinian hermitage and doctor of sacred Theology, in the panegyric Oration which he delivered on St. Nicholas and published in the year 1707, reckoned twenty-two of them. These indeed are not to be compared with the first for abundance of blood; but they have this singular quality, that they occur of their own accord even in the fourth century after his death, and are wont to portend some grave evil to the Church or to the Christian commonwealth, or the impending vengeance of an angry Deity.
[86] of their own accord Our most holy Lord Benedict XIV, in book 4, part 1, chap. 31, num. 8 of his learned Work which as Cardinal he formerly composed on the beatification of the servants of God and the canonization of the Blessed, and afterwards, when already Pontiff, revised, has the following concerning these effusions of the sacred blood: Well known is that of St. Nicholas of Tolentino: for when in the year MCCCXLV a certain Religious of the Augustinian Order, inflamed with the desire of carrying to his own country some relics of the blessed body, had cut off the arms, a copious blood burst from the veins; nor then only, but often at other times those severed arms streamed with gore; which was always a manifest portent of impending evil to the Christian commonwealth, as, by enumerating the eruptions of blood which fell at various times, and likewise the evils with which the Christian commonwealth was afflicted according to that variety of times, there have shown in published volumes, from the same Augustinian family, Father Nicholas Jerome Ceppi, and Father Giles Crapols, joined to me while he lived by a singular friendship.
[87] the arms often stream with blood. The writers praised by our most holy Lord I have not at hand; but this want is somewhat relieved by Fr. Nicholas de Tombeur, who in Appendix 6 to the Life of St. Nicholas relates various eruptions of this kind, which I shall report from him; yet since they are there only lightly touched upon, and neither the manner of the prodigy nor its circumstances are explained, I have thought it better to set before the studious reader three others — though later in time than the rest — the accounts of which were transmitted to my Elders, that from these he may judge of the others: what, however, they portended at various times, I shall not examine. The first of these happened in the year 1676, and was committed to writing by the Reverend Father Michael Heck, of the Order of St. Augustine, Assistant General for the Provinces of both Germanies, and sent into Belgium; of which I have three printed copies.
[88] In the year 1676, on the 17th of July, the left arm In the name of Christ, amen. Master Fr. Michael Heck of Ghent, doctor of sacred Theology and papal professor of Sacred Letters in the Roman university, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, Assistant General for the provinces of Upper and Lower Germany and for the kingdoms of Poland, England, and Ireland, &c. To all who shall see or read these, greeting in the Lord. That it may be manifest throughout all the provinces committed to me by the mandate of Clement X of pious memory by a special Brief, how wonderful God is in his Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, and exalted in his works, by these our letters patent we give public faith and testify that on the XVII day of July of the present year MDCLXXVI, one hour before nightfall, when the arms of the same St. Nicholas were solemnly brought forth from the iron chest, the keys of the most illustrious senate of the city of Tolentino and of the Fathers of our convent there being brought together, so that they might be shown by Fr. Joseph Mariani of Lucca, Vicar of the same convent, to the most illustrious persons — the countess Bonifacio, Anna Crescenzi the mother of the same countess, John Baptist count Bonifacio the brother of the said countess, Romans, the archpriest of the cathedral church of Ferrara with another priest assisting him, captain Gambucci of Pesaro, and various others flocking thither for devotion's sake, the consul and the deputies of the same senate being present with the secretary, with trumpeters, &c. — when by the said Fr. Vicar there was being pointed out with the customary little silver rod the last effusion of blood, which took place on the V of August, MDCLXXI, in the left arm of the same Saint; presently, in the sight of all, unexpectedly and with great force there burst forth again through the flesh and the veins some drops of blood from the arm, and they appeared upon the crystal, and made a line as of a finger, running like a fountain to
the bottom of the crystal; and they seemed about to burst out, had not the same Vicar at once turned the reliquary upside down.
[89] The drops appeared red, living, swollen, and as it were boiling, it sweats blood before many witnesses: and upon the inverting of the most holy relics they remained fixed to the crystal all the way to the bottom. And when all stood astonished at so great a prodigy, at the same moment they fell upon their knees, and with hot tears called upon the mercy of the Lord over them, and with contrite heart, beating their breasts, cried aloud with groans and sobs in their native tongue: Misericordia san Nicolao. But whereas there was present among the noble spectators a Roman knight, who had hitherto held those wondrous flowings of blood from dry arms to be ridiculous and, as he had said, inventions of the Friars for their own advantage, now, convinced by the evidence of his eyes, he publicly confessed his unbelief with blushing and grief, and gave glory to God and to his Saint, protesting that he was an unworthy spectator of so bloody a prodigy, and that thenceforth he would honor and proclaim St. Nicholas before the whole world as a great protector of the Church of God.
[90] But the end of the prodigy did not stop there. The wonderful fact came to the knowledge of the most illustrious and most reverend lord Francis Cini, bishop of Tolentino, at Macerata, a city four hours distant from Tolentino; who, with his accustomed prudence, ordered the reverend lord Alexander Borrocci, a noble of Macerata, canon of that cathedral and vicar general throughout the diocese, it is examined by the bishop's Vicar, to visit the holy relics privately on the evening of the following day, which was Saturday the XVIII of July, and to make authentic recognition of the miraculous effusion that had occurred so recently in the left arm. As it was prescribed, so it was done. The said vicar general, with the assistance of the reverend lord Joseph Quarini, canon of the cathedral, and of the reverend father Anthony Ponzini the Augustinian, Prior of our convent, and with the customary attendance of the consul and of a member of the magistracy, at the first hour after sunset caused, the keys being given, the left arm to be brought out to be exhibited and honored in the accustomed place; and they found that the new effusion made the day before stood just as has been narrated above, without any change, save that that new blood was now clotted and dry, and not fluid and swollen, as it had been on the preceding evening.
[91] But by order of the said lord vicar, visiting also the right arm, and the right arm too is found to have sweated: they found, about the clotted blood shed at another time under the loss of Goletta in Africa, three new drops of blood, thick like small peas, and another fresh and fluid, fixed to the crystal, with another very small drop which appeared still to be trickling out from the arm. And while they wonder at this, their amazement grew the more in all, because on inspecting the lid itself they discovered that six drops of blood had penetrated between the crystal and the silver and had fallen upon it; of which one was still fresh, as if it had flowed forth that very moment. And the arm itself and the flesh of the Saint appeared swollen, distended, and raised up, and prepared for a new effusion. The miracle having been seen and the visitation ended, the arms were replaced in their own place, within the iron chest laid up beneath the altar of the same Saint.
[92] the bishop hastens thither, On the twentieth of the same month of July the aforesaid lord bishop came to Tolentino, and one hour before nightfall entered our chapel of St. Nicholas with his lord vicar general and other leading persons of the city, both ecclesiastical and secular; and taking with him especially Gregory Benaducci, episcopal notary, he made a visitation and drew up a process upon this miraculous portent. In this visitation the blood was found dry and hard, with a line of blood impressed upon the crystal, and the other things as has been said above; except that the left arm was more swollen and ruddy than usual, and the vein called cephalic, as if spread out from the arm, was notably raised and full of blood — such as it had not appeared on the Saturday evening in the visitation made by the most reverend Vicar.
[93] and he approves both miracles: Afterwards the lord bishop ordered the right arm to be brought to him, and everything in it and from it was found just as it had appeared on the Saturday: there was no other difference, save that the fresh drop which was seen within the crystal, and which was as it were trickling from the vein, had now fallen to the bottom, as a manifest sign that it had then recently flowed from the arm. And before the said prelate returned to Macerata, on the XXI of the same July he wished first to examine and adore the most holy Relics again; and with a concourse of almost the whole city the most holy arms were publicly exposed, and nothing new appeared, but all things were found as related above. Whence, in the sight of all, with the oath of our Fathers, the testimony of the most illustrious magistracy and of the citizens, and with the public attestation of many strangers who had been present at the aforesaid flowings of blood, the said notary Benaducci, by order of the aforesaid bishop, requested, approved, and authenticated so admirable a prodigy as the Lord has lately deigned to work in the holy arms of Nicholas of Tolentino before the face of this sun.
[94] the magistracy of Tolentino also testifies. In faith and greater certainty of all which, the consul and senate of the said city also issued this public act, inserted here word for word.
The Gonfalonier and Priors of the city of Tolentino.
We testify that the above-said miracles in the holy arms of the Lord Nicholas, the chief advocate of our city of Tolentino, as described above, were and are true, and that from ocular inspection there evidently appeared to all beholders, in both the holy arms, on the said days XVII and XVIII of the current month of July, effusions of blood. In faith whereof &c. Given at Tolentino from our prioral palace this XXXI day of July MDCLXXVI, and signed. Theodore Morione, pro-secretary.
[95] By these the death of Clement X But what those admirable flowings of blood in the arms of St. Nicholas portend — although it is not for us to enter into the secrets of the divine counsel — nevertheless the outcome proved their power, since after the six drops of blood which were shed and penetrated as far as the lid, four days later we saw the setting of six stars in the unexpected death of Clement X, a Pontiff truly clement, for whom our Saint seems to have wept tears of blood; so that, just as he undertook the Pontificate in the deepest humility, constrained rather than of his own will, so after six years of rule he might close it with a blessed end, intent solely upon his eternal salvation together with the relief of his subjects.
[96] And these things, as above, agree, as to the truth of the fact, with the little book printed upon this matter in the Italian tongue at Camerino with the license of superiors is thought to have been foretold. and the approbation of the Reverend Father Anthony Mary Ponzini, Prior of our convent of Tolentino, as appears from his letters given on the IV of August and fortified with the seal of his prioral office. In faith of all which we have also issued these presents, to the greater glory of God, to be preached in St. Nicholas to the faithful people, and to be published everywhere throughout the provinces committed to us; and we have subscribed with our own hand and confirmed them with the seal of our office. At Rome, at St. Augustine's, on the feast day of St. Nicholas, MDCLXXVI; and it was signed: Fr. Michael Heck, Assistant General of Upper Germany of the Order of St. Augustine, with his own hand, who is named above. Place ✠ of the Seal.
[97] Afterwards it came to public knowledge that on the XIX of August last past the same arms again sent forth copious blood in the presence of the most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal Gabrielli, The same miracle is repeated on the 19th of August: who, passing through Tolentino from Ravenna on his legation, wished to venerate the sacred relics before going up at Rome into the Vatican conclave for the election of the supreme Pontiff; which that God may prosper through the blood of his Just One, speaking better than Abel, and may give to the widowed Church a man according to his own heart, we hang up this vow upon the sacred altars:
O Bridegroom of chaste blood, Be thou the herald of good tidings: Schism being put to flight afar, May the fold of Christ rejoice In a Shepherd after God's own heart.
[98] This account is clear and needs no illustration; yet I observe one thing and another. a few things are noted concerning these. In the first place, what it has at num. 88 concerning the presence of the consul, of the deputies from the senate, and of the trumpeters, agrees with what Zacconius says, who in part 1 of the Life, chap. 104, explains what is customarily observed when those sacred relics are exhibited to be venerated by persons of rank. For he says that then two of the Augustinians are deputed by the Prior of the convent to the magistracy of the city, that it may deign to attend with its key; and that from the magistracy certain men are deputed, who, with trumpeters going before and bells ringing by which the people are invited to look on, proceed to the church of St. Nicholas, and do not withdraw thence until the arms have been laid away again and locked with their key. As to what is said in the same account, that that eruption of blood portended the death of Clement X, it is not improbable; whether, however, those six drops discovered upon the lid signified the six years of Clement's Pontificate, I leave to the reader's judgment; for more than six had burst forth, as is clear from what has been said.
[99] Further, to give greater credit to this prodigy, Another account I subjoin the letter of Fr. Anthony Berti, of the same Augustinian family, which on the XX of July of the same year 1676 he sent from Tolentino upon this matter — with one or two circumstances somewhat varied — to Fr. Anthony of Forlì, lector in the convent of Bologna, as it stands in Torelli, but written in Italian. On Friday last, for lack of time, I was not able to inform you of the new prodigy which our most glorious St. Nicholas again displayed by a new effusion of blood from his holy arms. Know then that on the said day, which was the XVII of the current month, while about the XXIII hour the said arms were being shown to certain ladies, kinswomen of the lord Cardinal Crescenzi, the new bishop of Recanati and Loreto, there was seen to trickle from the left arm a drop of living blood, which, flowing down along the inner side of the square crystal that is set at the lowest part of the said arm, and then running toward the right side of the said crystal, found a passage between the joining of the silver and the crystal and burst forth outside, and, gliding down over the silver, flowed to the end of the arm, staining with blood not only the said crystal but also the silver on the outer part of the said crystal as far as the end of the arm, for the space of about four or five fingers in length.
[100] is added to that of the earlier ones On the following evening, which was the XVIII of the current month, about the middle of the second hour of the night, in the presence of the magistracy and of the lord episcopal vicar, we opened the chest privately, and, the said arm being taken out, we observed that the blood which had flowed down as above was now as it were congealed, no other change appearing, save that we saw it so turgid and swollen that in the larger and round crystal, which is fixed at the middle of the other part of the arm, in which is seen the blood last shed in the year MDCLXXI, that blood appeared living, so that it seemed to have gushed from the arm quite recently.
[101] of the eruptions The said arm being then replaced, the right was brought out, that we might examine whether anything new appeared in it. And scanning it carefully, we discovered that on the crystal which is attached behind to the lower part of the arm fresh blood appeared, and especially that one drop, about equal in its breadth to a single lentil, and as living as though it had just then flowed out, was adhering to the inner part of the said crystal; and we observed on the lid with which the holy arm is covered, in the very place to which the said crystal was fixed, six little drops of blood, of which the larger, about as thick as a white pea, was seen so living as though it had flowed out but now; and moreover the arm itself appeared swollen beyond measure, and the flesh distended.
[102] sent from Tolentino, This evening, after the signal had been given for the Ave Maria, the relics were again visited before the most illustrious lord bishop, who had come from Macerata for this purpose; but, praise be to God, nothing new was noticed, except that the sacred arms had remained distended and swollen. Those who are versed in the processes drawn up on similar occasions deny that there exists any record of both arms streaming with blood at the same time — save when they were first cut off — as has now happened; since at other times it had occurred now in the one, now in the other. Perhaps this time, on account of the multitude of our sins, the scourges appear in both hands. May God help us by his grace, and St. Nicholas by his patronage. From my heart I reverence your Paternity. Tolentino, the XX of July MDCLXXVI.
your most devoted servant
F. Anthony Berti of Imola.
[103] This account differs somewhat from the former, and therefore I judged that it too should be given: and another differing somewhat. the other, however, appears the more authentic. Perhaps this discrepancy, such as it is, crept into the letter of Fr. Anthony Berti from some haste: for it was written on the XX day of July, that is on the same night on which the last visitation which he reports was made. That divine vengeance was portended by that prodigy he feared not without reason, because the death of Clement X, which fell on the XXII day of the same month, had not yet occurred. For the rest, Torelli notes that this Pontiff always showed himself beneficent toward the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, and recalled the Saint's Office, which Clement VIII had reduced to a semidouble rite, to a double one, and finally granted to the same Order that once in each month, on a day not impeded by an Office of nine lessons, they might recite the Office of the commemoration: to which benefits the Saint may be said to have responded by the unusual effusion of blood from both arms at his impending death. But these things we leave to divine Providence.
§ VIII. Various and remarkable effusions of blood in the years 1679 and 1698.
[ ] A new eruption of blood In the year of Christ 1679, in the month of August, prodigious blood was again seen to flow from both arms; as is attested by a letter of the same, if I mistake not, Reverend Father Anthony Berti, Prior of Tolentino, a copy of which the excellent Fr. Christian Lupus, doctor of sacred Theology of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine and Prior provincial in Belgium, made public after it had been brought from Italy, and which I here append. At its head it is marked with the following title: Copy of a letter written by the Reverend Father Prior of the convent of Tolentino, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, to the very Reverend Father procurator general of the convent of S. Maria del Popolo of the same Order, at Rome, upon a new emission of blood from both arms of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, rendered into Latin, adhering to the Italian words and idioms so far as could be done.
[105] The letter runs thus: Very reverend Father, from both I should fail in my duty if I did not inform your very Reverend Paternity of the new emission of blood discovered in these days in the most holy arms of our most glorious St. Nicholas. Know then how on Tuesday last, the first of the current month, while I was showing these most holy relics to certain gentlemen of Fermo and Loreto, who had come hither out of devotion toward the Saint, I discovered in both arms new emissions of blood. At first sight I stood astonished, and, to avoid a commotion and seeking to extricate myself in a good manner, I carried the arms back to their chest as quickly as I could. Afterwards, the matter having been discussed with the Religious, it was concluded to refer it to the lords of the magistracy, that joined with them we might visit the arms themselves and observe the new prodigy more distinctly; which was carried into execution.
[106] And in the evening of the second day of the current month, when the same gentlemen had come privately about the first hour of the night into the convent, in the Saint's arm the chest was opened; and the right arm having been reverently taken out by me, we found new and fresh blood upon the round crystal set on the outer part of the arm toward the elbow, whence likewise in the year MDCLXXVI it sent forth blood; and we saw that the blood, bursting out through the little chink which is at the joining of the silver and the crystal, had fallen upon the silken veil in which the holy arm is covered and wrapped within the chest, and had left there a bloody stain, which appeared still fresh and ruddy, of the size of one large chickpea. Besides, the flesh of the holy arm was observed to be distended and swollen in such a manner that it seemed to be bursting the silver case, and so soaked with sweat as if it had been placed in water.
[107] observed in the year 1679, and approved: The right arm being replaced, I drew out the left, and we found that upon the large round crystal set at the middle of the arm (where likewise in the year MDCXXI it dripped blood copiously) there appeared drops of fresh blood; because the vein of the arm which they call the cephalic, corresponding to the said crystal, being wholly swollen and distended with blood, had risen so far as to touch the crystal itself, from which it ordinarily stands off half a finger and more, and had sprinkled the whole crystal on the lower part with blood, which could be seen to move and flow now this way, now that, according as the Saint's arm was moved. The flesh of this arm also was observed to be swollen and damp with sweat in the same manner as I have said of the right. Then yesterday evening, having been advised by me, the most reverend lord episcopal vicar came, to take, as he did with a notary and witnesses, the due information: and all the things I have narrated were found so, and moreover on the lid in which the right arm is wrapped there was seen another drop of fresh blood, like that of which I spoke above. This is the whole of what was observed. If any new thing occur, I shall not fail to make you a sharer in it, that you may be able to communicate it to those whom it concerns, and especially to the most eminent protector Altieri.
[108] and his account sent into Belgium. Such effusions of blood are wont to be presages of calamities to come upon the Church and Christendom. May it please his divine Majesty to appease his just indignation through the merits of so great a Protector of the Church. This I myself pray of God, though an unworthy sinner, and I bow myself most humbly to your very Reverend Paternity. Tolenti[*] the IV of August MDCLXXIX
your very reverend Paternity's most observant &c.
Fr. Anthony Berti, Prior.
To these, finally, the following are subjoined: This Copy the very Reverend and excellent Father Master Christian Lupus, doctor of sacred Theology, and Prior provincial in Belgium of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, ordered to be transmitted hither by the last Italian courier, that it might be made public to all the faithful of Christ, and that by it they might be stirred to a unanimous devotion toward the aforesaid glorious Saint, and that by his intercession the holy Roman Church and our Belgium might be freed from impending evils, and we all be reconciled to God the just avenger.
[109] Various and remarkable The following account of another bloody sweat, which fell in the year 1698, was written in Italian by Fr. Anthony Manfredi, priest of the Society of Jesus, then dwelling at Loreto, to our Fr. Janning, who at that time was staying at Rome, and by him it was brought to our Museum. Take Manfredi's words in Latin: The renewal, he says, of the great miracle of the bloody sweat from the arms of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, which to this present time is perpetual in the Church, has suddenly stirred the pious curiosity of all the faithful to learn the event and to acquire some knowledge of it; and you, who are piously affected toward so great a Saint, demand a particular account. Behold, I send it to you according to the notices which have reached us from a good source and from persons who were present at the prodigy.
[110] On the XXII day of September of this year MDCXCVIII, when the sacred arms were being exhibited to be seen by certain noble foreign gentlemen, from both arms some change was observed in them and a certain new effusion of blood; whereat, the aforesaid bystanders being struck with reverent fear, it seemed good to replace the arms in their place and to advise of this event those whom it was fitting. On the following day, which was the XXIII, the lord vicar betook himself thither with the lord Lauretus Baptista, physician, the lord Peter Accorsi, surgeon, and other officers, to examine the matter; and the new blood was observed by all, with a manifest swelling of the flesh, whereas the sacred arms are otherwise parched and dry. On the days following — the XXIV, XXV, XXVIII, and XXX of September — the examinations were renewed by the lord bishop Varani, who had come from Macerata for that purpose, with the lord physician Scaramuccia and the lord surgeon Veronici.
[111] On the XXIV day the swelling of the left arm appeared more manifest, with an effusion of blood from the basilic vein; of blood and through the chink of the little door which is in the outer side of the silver, and is closed with a lightly chased Seraph, the flesh of the right arm was found ruddy and moist, with the living and fresh color of blood, which in certain places was clotted and coagulated. Besides, in the crystals — of which three are set in the silver on the inner and as many on the outer part of each arm, through which the sacred arms are viewed — there were noted several drops of old blood, shed formerly and darker from their age; while on the crystal which is fixed at the middle of the left arm on the outer part there was observed a new transverse line of blood, which, bursting from the arm, had adhered to the crystal and had left upon it a fresh bloody stain.
[112] On both the lower crystals of the inner part likewise there appeared many bright and fluid stains of living and equally fresh gore. effusions, And on the uppermost crystal of the outermost part of the right arm two new drops of fluid blood were discerned, of which one, having slipped down from the arm, adhered to a neighboring older stain. Two likewise were seen on the lower crystal of the same outermost part, and one other very fresh, on the lowest crystal not far from the elbow. Nay, the silken veils of dark-blue color, in which the sacred arms are wrapped, were seen sprinkled with new blood, seven drops or stains being noted on the veil of the right, three on that of the left, besides other older ones observed before the coming of the lord lord bishop.
[113] On the days following, until the third of October, the aforesaid inquiries were more clearly confirmed, before men eminent in dignity and the prodigy of the new eruptions grew ever more and more manifest, so that of this matter
the report, spread most constantly through all this neighborhood, drew many of the neighboring prelates to Tolentino, that they might venerate the sacred arms and this prodigious sweat; as among others did the lord Anguissola, governor of the March, and the lord Firrac, governor of Loreto. The same was done by many strangers who, when they were visiting the holy house of Loreto, being stirred by a new goad of piety, wished also to behold that renewed prodigy; among the first of whom are numbered the lord marquis Vitelli, chamberlain of the most serene grand duke, and the lord marquis Francis Mary Centurione, senator of Genoa, and other men of singular rank and merit.
[114] wrought in the year 1698. On the third day of October the lord bishop, desiring to investigate the miracle more accurately, determined to open the little silver door engraved with the image of a Seraph, so that, since hitherto the sacred arms had been examined only from without and through the crystals, the truth might be seen unveiled immediately in itself. And so, the left arm being inspected first in the accustomed manner, new coagulated blood was found on the middle crystal of the outer part, and the vein more swollen; the white veil also, which had been put in place of the dark-blue one, was again besprinkled with various stains of bloody serum. Then, when they had come to the right arm, the Father Prior of the convent at the order of the lord bishop opened the aforesaid little door, and there appeared to the eyes of all a portion of the sacred arm furnished with living flesh, and covered with blood clotted and shed to the extent of several inches, which above, toward the beating of the artery, was seen moister and brighter, and extended below even beneath the silver, which concealed its limit. There was no one who at this spectacle could restrain his tears; prelates, priests, physicians, and people, giving way to pious lamentations out of devotion and astonishment, praised and marveled at the wonders and mighty works of God in his Saint. In this manner, with the utmost delight, the inquiry was ended, and the arms were replaced in their own place.
Annotata* Tolentini
§ IX. The renewal of the same prodigy in the year 1699: an eight-day solemnity therefore appointed by Pope Innocent XII, celebrated with a great concourse of the people.
[ ] In the year 1699 The same prodigy was again renewed in the next following year, namely 1699, concerning which the same Fr. Anthony Mary Manfredi wrote at length in the Italian tongue to our Conrad Janning, then likewise staying at Rome, in these words: In the year lately past, on the XVIII day of October, I informed you of the bloody prodigy of the arms of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, which from the XXII day of September until that time, as I had said, continued; afterwards I wrote nothing on this subject, because the miracle had ceased and the flow of blood had stopped. But now behold the prodigy suddenly renewed again in the year MDCXCIX, from the XXIX day of May; and these tears, or voices of blood, with the great astonishment and pious feeling of all the neighboring peoples who had flocked together, were increased and continued beyond a month. Nay, I myself hastened thither that I might see this great vision; and lest you, most devoted toward the Saint, should be deprived of this consolation, receive the events which I have gathered from trustworthy reports.
[116] both On the XXIX day of the month of May of this year MDCXCIX, a Friday, about the XI hour, when the sacred arms were being shown to certain noblemen, suddenly the right of them, sufficiently swollen, was seen to have poured out much blood, which, having slipped even out of the silver ornament in which the arm is enclosed, had stained in three or four places the white silken veil in which it was wrapped; while the flesh of the left arm began to fill out and to swell. The matter having been made known to the superiors, as was fitting, the lord vicar general and the lords of the magistracy, with the physician, the surgeon, and the notary, and other deputies, betook themselves thither on the XXX day to inspect the prodigy; and there was found in the arm a greater effusion of blood, and the stains on the veil multiplied to eight, and moreover they were found to have penetrated through the silken cloth.
[117] On the XXXI, which was a Sunday, the inspection being repeated, [arm] it was observed that the stains on the veil of the right arm had increased to the number of twelve, and that the left arm also had sweated blood and had stained the veil with three spots. On the following days the inspection was continued; but on the first and second of June nothing singular was noted. Of the third day, receive what a Franciscan Religious of the Observance wrote to me. On the third day, by the favor of the lord vicar, I too was present, and the right arm was found smeared with copious blood, and the Father Prior wiped the crystal on the part where the blood had flowed with a white silken veil, which was thereby stained; and this I beheld with my own eyes. On the fourth day nothing new occurred, and on the fifth no inspection was made.
[118] But on the sixth day they assembled again, and there appeared in the left arm living blood, on many days which in the sight of all the bystanders flowed within the case; and the flesh appeared conspicuous in vigor, fresh and moist. The same could be seen in the right arm; nor however had the blood burst forth outside, as had happened at other times. The Father Prior wiped the crystal toward the elbow, and the veil was stained as usual. On the seventh day the lord count Paolucci, commander of the forces throughout the March of Ancona and brother of the most eminent Cardinal, desired to behold this stupendous prodigy; and while the sacred arms were being exhibited to him, the veil of the left appeared besprinkled with a new stain of blood, and in both cases the blood was seen to flow within the crystals, up and down, according as the arms were moved, to the great admiration, astonishment, and piety of the aforesaid gentleman and of the rest of the bystanders.
[119] From the said day until the XIV nothing singular or new occurred: with blood but on the XIV, which was a Sunday and the feast of the most holy Trinity, the arm was found to have poured out a great abundance of blood outside the crystals, which had not only stained the white silken veil but had even penetrated the texture of the gold; nay, while the arms were being put back, another veil also, which was kept in the same chest, was found stained with blood. What befell on the XV day I subjoin in the very words of a certain gentleman of Trajano [*], a friend of mine, who wrote thus: "I was present at the inspection of the sacred arms, and was an eyewitness of the blood, which appeared fluid, and so fresh that the veil with which the Father Prior wiped it away through the chink of the silver case in which the sacred arm is contained was marked with a stain of blood so fresh that, as it was folded, it imprinted two other smears, and moreover one little drop slipped from the crystal to which it had adhered and flowed down toward the flesh…"
[120] After these things Manfredi observes certain matters concerning the greatness and the causes of so great a prodigy, which I have judged should be passed over it flows: and left to divine Providence; but the remainder of the letter runs thus: On Friday, the XXIX of the month, it pleased the lord bishop Varani to hasten from Macerata to Tolentino, and arriving there about the XXIII hour with a great retinue of the men of Macerata, presently, having assembled the lords of the magistracy, the physician, the surgeon, the notary, and the deputies, and moreover with some German noblemen and a certain Religious present, he set about examining the sacred arms. It was observed that in the left arm blood flowed so fresh and ruddy as if it were leaping from a vein; nevertheless it did not burst out beyond the crystals. Then the right arm was taken out, and the Fr. Prior of the convent was ordered by the bishop to open the little silver door, as had been done in the year then lately past; and when it was opened, it appeared bare and clearly clothed with fresh flesh, and furnished with living and ruddy blood, which, having slipped outside, had marked the veil in various places with a size of half of the coin which they call a Piastra.
[121] an eight-day devotion therefore appointed by Innocent XII An effusion so copious, continued for so long a time, and so frequent — so that the people of Tolentino deny that any of them remembers a like one seen or heard of by himself — moved our most holy Lord Innocent XII to stir up with paternal zeal both the people of Tolentino and strangers to certain offices of singular piety; and therefore he instituted an eight-day devotion, to begin on the XXVIII of June, a Sunday, and to be carried through with supplications, prayers, and exhortations, granting plenary indulgences to all who, having confessed their sins and been refreshed with the most holy Eucharist, should visit the sacred relics of Nicholas. On the same day on which this Octave was begun, the lord bishop Varani and the most eminent Cardinal, governor of the March, hastened thither; and the whole morning was spent in hearing confessions and in giving the divine Banquet.
[122] the eight days of prayer The sacred arms, taken out of the chest, were borne with a suppliant procession to the principal altar before the solemn Mass, after whose Gospel an exhortation was made to the people; then they were carried back to the chest. After Vespers had been sung they were again borne with a like procession, the magistracy and the noblemen accompanying, and were exposed to public veneration: but on account of the danger lest the blood with which they were streaming should fall outside, they were not carried or exposed upright, as had been the custom at other times, but were borne reclining upon cushions of silk by priests vested in sacred habit, and were so laid upon the altar. On Tuesday morning the lord Gherardi, bishop of Loreto and Recanati, came thither likewise with the lord abbot his brother, and after celebrating Mass in the Saint's little chapel was privately present at the exposition of the arms, which were seen to resume their vigor and to be clothed with flesh. A certain clot also of congealed blood moved when the arm was moved.
[123] are celebrated with a vast concourse of the people. Drawn by the example of these prelates, a vast multitude of nobles and of the people flowed together on the following days from almost all the towns and lands of the March of Ancona, that they might be made partakers of so great a good and of so prodigious a sight. On the second Sunday, which was the last day of the Octave and the V of July, it was impossible, on account of the excessive concourse and press of the people, to preach the sermon and to expose the sacred arms as usual. From this day onward they were often inspected, and were never found without living and fresh blood which flowed within the cases; and the white silken veil with which the crystals were wiped always appeared stained with new gore. I write this on the XIV day of July, and the effusion has not yet ceased, and the miracle still endures. Thus far Manfredi, who then reports the various opinions of the people concerning the cause of this so long-continued prodigy, or concerning the evil which was portended by it.
Annotata* di Montecchio
§ X. The remaining effusions that took place in the same year 1699, and likewise many others which occurred in various years.
[ ] Effusions of blood The prodigious effusion of blood which in the preceding § we recited from Manfredi's letters had not yet ceased when he wrote them to Janning on the XIV day of July, as we there saw: for which reason he sent others in that same year 1699 to the same man, which, likewise rendered into Latin, I here subjoin. Since, he says, so pleasing to you was the account of the miraculous effusion of blood of our great St. Nicholas of Tolentino, which I sent you on the XIV day of July; and since this Saint from that time to the present continues the sprinkling of blood that speaks better than Abel, it is fitting that I make you a sharer of the events which my friends from this neighborhood have communicated to me.
[125] On Sunday, the XIX of July, the inspection being repeated, the right arm was found to have again poured out new blood outside the case, from the 19th of July and that sufficiently living and ruddy, leaving
two stains behind, of the size of one small coin; and in the cases of both arms living and fresh gore was found. On the XXIX day of the same month two Prelates, of whom one was governor of San Severino and the other of Norcia, came to Tolentino, that they might indulge their pious desire of venerating the Saint and of beholding the divine prodigies with their own eyes. The arms were seen bloody, which had preserved the clotted gore and a bright and fresh flesh; and from the right arm the blood shed had broken through the case and had stained the veil with one spot which in its breadth equaled a giulio coin: at which spectacle the aforesaid Prelates and the rest of the bystanders stood fixed, filled with astonishment and holy awe. On the second day of August it was discovered that from the left arm, which for some time now had shown no movement, so much blood had flowed that the whole crystal was seen sprinkled and covered with it.
[126] It is now three months, from the XXIX of May to the XXIX of August, of the year 1699 during which the great Saint preaches by these bloody voices, and being dead yet speaks, as St. Paul says of Abel: but among these mysterious cries none was greater than that which occurred on Friday, the XIV of August, before the lord bishop Varani. Since this Prelate was to perform the sacred offices solemnly on the Saturday, which was sacred to the Virgin assumed into heaven, in that cathedral church, coming from Macerata on the said day, he betook himself that very evening, together with the magistracy and the deputies, to visit the sacred arms. The inspection was made authentically with the due ceremonies: but — O the mighty works of God! — while the bishop was uncovering the right arm, that he might see through the crystals whether anything new had happened, suddenly from a certain opening toward the elbow, just as from some little flask, there burst forth so great an abundance of fluid blood, of a ruddy blackish color, that it moved all the bystanders with astonishment and holy veneration to pious tears, and filled the whole province, when the report of the prodigy was spread abroad, with wonderful devotion.
[127] as far as He who wrote this to me had said that the blood which had flowed out equaled an ounce in quantity; but afterwards I learned from the lord Firao, governor of Loreto, that the lord bishop Varani had testified to him with his own mouth that the quantity of the aforesaid blood reached an ounce and a half, and had burst out with such force that the lord bishop feared lest it should reach even his own face and garments: certainly it stained the whole veil, leaving upon it a line one Roman palm broad. On the XV, the inspection being repeated, it was found that the left arm had poured out copious blood, and that the veil was stained with one spot, three fingers broad and about eight long; moreover the blood did not appear ruddy, as at other times, but pale and melancholy: whereby, besides the other prodigies which were renewed in this effusion, another miracle shone out, through the change and variation in the color of the blood, which now appeared purple and ruddy, now pale, dull, and languid.
[128] the 10th day of September On the XVI day, while the sacred arms were being shown to the lord Caraccioli, governor of the March, and to a certain Rector of the Jesuits of Macerata, who was attached to his service, no part of the veil was found without stains, so that another had to be substituted in its place. On the XIX and XXII a certain new effusion was discovered in both arms; the same occurred on the XXV, before the Father General of the Conventual Minors of St. Francis, and other Religious of the same sacred Order. On the XXVII there were present two Penitentiary Fathers of Loreto, a casuist and a Frenchman, who testified that they saw the flesh fresh, and one clot of blood in the left arm, which, as the case was moved, dissolved and slipped down through the joining of the crystal; and that the half of the larger crystal, which is fixed to the right arm toward the elbow, was covered with a bloody foam, and that, when this had been wiped away, after the space in which the psalm Miserere might be recited three times, it was covered again with new and more copious foam: these things they saw while the Father Prior was saying: Today there is no effusion.
[129] of the same year Then, while the right arm was being turned, there were left upon the veil, which was two or three palms distant from it, five or six drops, which spread themselves out. There were shown to them also the veils which had been stained in that great effusion of the XIV day, and which were then folded and stuck together: but when they unfolded and pulled them apart, the blood was found fresh, viscous, and tenacious. On the XXX certain noblemen of Milan were present at the inspection, before whom the left arm poured out seven drops of blood upon the veil, not without the vast terror and dread of these noblemen. On the 1st of September the Father Inquisitor of Ancona came to venerate the Saint and at the same time to see the sacred arms: but then the blood appeared only fresh, without any greater effusion.
[130] discovered On the III and VI of September the effusion was repeated, and the veils were again sprinkled with stains equaling in size the coin which the Italians call a giulio. On the X, which is sacred to the Saint, when the sacred arms were being taken up to be exposed to the public veneration of the people, who were present in great numbers, the left of them dripped one drop before the lord bishop, which stained the veil with a slight mark: from this day until the XIV, on which I write, nothing else new worthy of memory has occurred. Now the things I have reported are of no small moment; since all assert and confirm that the effusion which was continued from the XIV of August to the Saint's feast is the greatest which has ever occurred within the memory of all the citizens and Religious.
[131] Finally, that I may set an end to setting forth prodigious effusions of this kind, Other eruptions of the same sort I briefly subjoin some others, which, although earlier in time, I have judged should be thrown back to this place, so that the studious reader may from the foregoing accounts, in which the several circumstances are set forth in detail, be able to judge of the rest. Nicholas de Tombeur, then, in Appendix 6 to the Life of St. Nicholas, reviews them in this manner: That a manifold effusion of the sacred blood has occurred at various times, writers worthy of credit report: as before Mahomet II, emperor of the Turks, seized by arms Mytilene, Negropont, Albania, Bosnia, and other regions. Likewise while Bajazet was harassing the Catholic Church in Albania, Croatia, and Corinth; again before his successor Suleiman stormed the fortified cities, Belgrade, Buda, &c.; again while in the times of John XXII and Innocent VI the Roman Church was shaken by the whirlwinds of heresies and schisms.
[132] But these things being omitted, as not altogether authentically and in convincing form recorded (although they are reported by various writers, of blood and may be read in Joseph Arimani and many others), we shall report only those which can effectually convince the incredulous and the most obstinate. The first is noted in the year MDX under Julius II, concerning which an authentic instrument was drawn up and is extant, as also concerning those which occurred in the year MDLXX under Pius V; likewise in the year MDLXXIV under Gregory XIII, and MDXCIV under Clement VIII. Again in the years MDCX and MDCXII under Paul V; likewise MDCXXV at the beginning of the Pontificate of Urban VIII, and in the year MDCXLV under Innocent X. In the year MDCLVI another and copious effusion of the sacred gore took place in the month of July from the right arm, under Alexander VII, so notable that his Holiness ordered a report and a formal process to be made upon these things and given to the press. And the title of this Process is of the following tenor: "An instrument of attestation, containing the emanation of the blood of the divine Nicholas of Tolentino. By the Blood of the Word Jesus we preach that the holy Church was built; and by the blood of St. Nicholas we declare that it has been protected."
[133] In the year MDCLXIX another also occurred under Clement IX; but more copious and more frequent was the effusion of blood seen from the left arm in the year MDCLXXI under Clement X, eruptions, which on six different occasions the most illustrious lord Cini, bishop of Macerata and Tolentino, saw and visited, the magistracy and the Fathers of our convent of Tolentino being present. At the same time, when the lord Corsi, papal visitor, was visiting the sacred arms, he saw three drops of blood flow from them. A new one was again seen in the year MDCLXXVI: we have given this in §7, and therefore I proceed to the rest. Moreover in the year MDCLXXVII, on the XXIX of April, and in MDCLXXIX under Innocent XI, which, begun in August, was continued through to the XVII of September, and in the meantime visitations were made on different occasions, and each authentically recorded by the notary and the bishop's chancellor, the bishop, the governor, and the Prior of the convent being present. The rest I pass over, because we have already set forth these effusions in §8.
[134] made in various years. In the year MDCXCVIII another again, the praised Augustinian continues, under Innocent XII, began on the XIV of September and was continued until the XVIII of October, and in the meantime seven visitations were made in the presence of the bishop of Macerata and of the magistracy, by physicians, &c.; and in each visitation made on the XXIII, XXV, XXVI, XXVII, and XXX of September, and in the last, which occurred on the XXX, a renewal of the flowing gore was found. Lastly it occurred again in the year MDCXCIX and MDCC. Of the first of these three we have treated in §8 from the account and testimony of Anthony Manfredi, priest of the Society of Jesus; but that differs somewhat from Tombeur's narrative: for in the latter the beginning of the effusions is fixed on the XIV day of September, but in the former on the XXII of the same month. There are also some other discrepancies, which Manfredi, being nearer in place and time, could better have known. Of the effusions that took place in the year 1699 we have likewise treated in this very § and in the preceding one. Finally, Fr. Francis de Corte writes that the last eruption of blood from both arms, in the year 1700, was so copious that [*] the reverend Father General of the Hermits of St. Augustine on that account appointed three days of public prayers throughout his whole Order, that they might implore the divine clemency and avert the punishments which they feared were portended. From this blood, on the same testimony, the magistracy of Tolentino sent a gift to Pope Clement XI. For the rest, concerning eruptions of blood of this kind, truly prodigious, Torelli also may be seen in his Annals at the year of Christ 1345, from num. 17, where he reviews various ones, adding also the calamities which he judged were portended by them.
§ XI. On the Saint's relics, and especially on his prodigious blood preserved in various places.
[ ] The thumb or a finger of the hand The things which we brought forward in §6 concerning the body of St. Nicholas seem to intimate that none of his relics, apart from the sacred blood, were carried elsewhere. For that the whole and incorrupt body lay at Tolentino until it was mutilated of both arms by a rash daring, has been said in that place; and that, when that crime was wonderfully detected, the said arms, enclosed in silver cases, have from that time been kept at Tolentino, while the rest of the body lies hidden in a more secret place. Nevertheless Rocco Pirri, tom. 2 of Sicilia sacra, Notitia 6, San-Martin in the French Life, and Fr. Francis de Corte the Augustinian in the Flemish one, assign one finger of the Saint to the people of Trapani in Sicily. The same does Zacconius, part 1, chap. 97, where he also sets forth the occasion and the manner in which it came to the people of Trapani. I subjoin a summary of the narrative.
[136] carried to Trapani in Sicily There was, says Zacconius, at Trapani in Sicily a certain head of a household, a man much honored, who, having a daughter — his only one, as it happened — possessed by a malignant spirit, had tried in vain to free her by the usual exorcisms of the Church. In short: the demon confessed at last that Brother Nicolino alone was to be feared by him, and that at his command alone would he depart from the body. At this a certain one of his friends who chanced to be present, inquiring of a certain Augustinian Religious who at last that Brother might be whom the demon so greatly feared, received the answer that he was doubtless Father Nicholas, who, born at Castel Sant'Angelo in the March of Ancona, was leading an austere life at Tolentino and was said to be growing famous for many miracles. This said, that friend, concealing his plan from the rest, presently hastens to Tolentino, that he might bring St. Nicholas himself to Trapani, or at least obtain from him some remedy for so great an evil.
[137] But he had not gone far from his own country when he heard from two Augustinian Fathers and by him that St. Nicholas had lately departed from among the living, and had already been committed to the earth. The unexpected news struck the man, and he stood for a while in doubt whether to abstain from the journey he had begun: nevertheless he went on to Tolentino, and, having venerated the sacred body, urged the Father sacristan with many prayers, and obtained that he should grant him some portion of it. By night, therefore, they approached the Saint's tomb, and tried first to cut off the little finger of the right hand, and then the three middle ones, with a fruitless effort: but when they came to the thumb, this was cut off with no difficulty, and enclosed in a small box that pilgrim carried it to Trapani, keeping in deep silence both the cause of the journey he had made and the sacred treasure which he had brought.
[138] Presently, when the possessed girl was being purified with the sacred exorcisms of the Church, a possessed girl is said to have been delivered: he enters the church with the said thumb, no one being privy to the matter. Then indeed the demon began to gnash and to heap curses upon St. Nicholas, whose relics he dreaded. All who were present were astonished, not knowing what was being done. But he, handing over the sacred thumb to the exorcist, bade him lay it upon the possessed girl; whereupon the demon, delaying no longer, dashed the girl to the ground and, leaving her most like one dead, departed. After her mind returned to her, and she was found free of her hateful guest, the said friend, glad at this success, disclosed the whole course of the matter and presented the sacred relics to the Augustinian Fathers, who venerated them, placed upon the altar, and sang the hymn Te Deum amid the festive applause of the church bell.
[139] Thus, roughly, Zacconius; and if these things are true, I wonder that they escaped Peter of Monte Rubiano, both matters appear doubtful; a writer of the same time and Order, or that, if he knew them, he did not report them among the other miracles. They were equally unknown to Torelli and to the other writers whom at least I have seen. It also appears to me little likely that that friend, whoever he was, having communicated his plan to no one, should have hastened to Tolentino from Trapani — places so far apart from one another — in order to summon St. Nicholas, or to ask of him some remedy for the possessed girl. Besides, Torelli, at the year of Christ 1345, num. 19, expressly affirms that in the year 1656 blood flowed from the thumb of the right arm, and therefore it was not cut off from the rest of the hand in the year 1305 or 1306, in which the Saint died, nor carried to Trapani — unless perhaps Torelli was mistaken, or used "thumb" for the place of the thumb. Finally, to speak my mind in few words, this account of Zacconius is suspect to me, especially since he alleges no witness or monument.
[140] yet some relics seem to be at Trapani, Not on that account, however, would I dare to adjudge away from the people of Trapani any relics whatever of St. Nicholas; since besides the writers praised, James Albericius also assigns some to them, in part 2 of the Life, chap. 2: what that portion is, however, I do not hold sufficiently ascertained. Rocco Pirri, praised above, says it is a finger, and that it is of the right hand San-Martin and the author of the Flemish Life assert; Zacconius says the thumb of that hand; Frigerius, or Albericius, affirms it to be only something from the thumb of the right hand; and this last can easily be reconciled with Torelli's statements. As regards the time when the relic was received, the praised Pirri writes that a finger of St. Nicholas was given there by the noble family de Carissima MCCC years ago. But for MCCC I think CCC should be read, unless he meant that that donation was made about the year 338, which is certainly false. But if we read CCC, the donation will fall about the same time which Zacconius fixes. For the rest, the people of Tolentino, and those who have viewed the Saint's arms more closely, will be better able than I to discern whether any finger or thumb of the right hand has been carried elsewhere.
[141] as also to have been at Siena in Tuscany. That another finger besides was kept at Siena in Tuscany, Ambrose of Siena relates, or rather Scipio Jardinus who translated his little work into Latin, writing this in chap. 31 of the Life: At the sepulchre of that same St. Nicholas in the city of Tolentino, and in the city of Siena, in the chapel where the finger of that same divine Nicholas is kept, those vexed by demons, betaking themselves thither, very often, those unclean spirits being cast out, are restored both to their former liberty and to health by the help of the same St. Nicholas. Similarly Zacconius, from Ambrose's own little work, writes that one finger of St. Nicholas was honored in a certain tabernacle at Siena and grew famous by many miracles: but whether it was a finger of the hand or of the foot he does not explain. He adds that in his own time, that is in the XVII century, it no longer survived there, and that it was not known by what mischance it perished.
[142] Some of the prodigious blood More certain are the things related concerning the portions of the miraculous blood sent to various towns. I have at hand an authentic instrument, drawn up in the year 1701 at Castel Sant'Angelo in the March of Ancona, and fortified with the due subscription of the vicar and of other witnesses and with the authority of a public notary, in which several relics preserved in the said town are reviewed, and among the rest this is said concerning the relics of St. Nicholas: There is also preserved and exposed to public veneration, and every year on his feast days, the X of September and the second day of Pentecost, solemnly carried about with a canopy, in the chapel built with a dome in the church of the Friars of St. Augustine, a notable relic of St. Nicholas, their townsman: a mass of clotted blood in notable quantity, shed and gathered on a small piece of that cloth in which the holy arms of St. Nicholas were cut off.
[143] and other memorials of the Saint at Castel Sant'Angelo There are reviewed in the same place certain memorials of the same Saint, concerning which in the said instrument, after the aforesaid, it is presently added in this manner: But these are the least memorials of the said holy Patron; of whom there also exist in the said town a stone grotto in a deserted place, where the said holy Patron used to pray, to fast, and to scourge himself; a very ancient church, where he was given the waters of baptism and the sacred chrism, initiated into minor Orders, and made a canon; two marble columns which supported the pulpit in which he was inflamed by an Augustinian preacher toward the institute of the Friars Hermits, and where he himself preached several times; the earthen cups and dishes which he used, fixed and set into the walls of the said church, which are seen even today. Thus far there; now let us return to the relics of the blood.
[144] That some part of the same blood was in the year 1467 given by the Reverend Father Alexander of Ancona, A portion of the blood granted Prior provincial of the March of Ancona, to the lord William de Paiellis, likewise Praetor of Ancona, Torelli relates at the year cited, from num. 4, and proves it from the letter of the said Alexander, which I have transcribed from him, and which is of this kind: To each and all of the faithful of Christ, brother Alexander, professor of sacred Theology and Prior provincial of St. Nicholas of the March of Ancona, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, greeting and happy successes in the work of God. By the office enjoined upon us we are bound to grant the prayers of the faithful so far as we can with the Lord: hence it is that, with the consent of the venerable Fathers of the convent of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, to the magnificent and generous knight, jurisconsult, and count of Vicenza, the lord William de Paiellis, most worthy praetor of Ancona and Apostolic secretary, we have granted one small particle of the miraculous blood of the most glorious confessor St. Nicholas of Tolentino — since no other relics of him can now be had — to be kept with veneration in his own keeping for his devotion.
[145] Affirming without any doubt that this is truly of that miraculous blood to the praetor of Ancona, which flowed from that most holy body; offering ourselves for all greater things, when, God favoring, the opportunity shall present itself. In faith whereof we have ordered these presents to be made and to be fortified with the impression of our Provincial seal. Given at Tolentino on the Kalends of August MCCCCLXVII, in the III year of the Pontificate of the most holy Father in Christ and lord, Lord Paul II by divine providence Pope. Torelli subjoins in the same place another letter besides of the same Reverend Father Provincial to the wardens and brethren of the confraternity of St. Mary and St. Nicholas at Bragantia in the territory of Vicenza, by which he informs them of the sacred blood transmitted to the said count of Vicenza, and adds that he had left it to his judgment to expose it publicly on the Saint's feast days. He says also that that portion of blood could not be obtained save with the utmost difficulty, since it had been enacted by the constitutions of that province that nothing of the relics of the same Saint should be given to anyone.
[146] In the second year after, or the year of Christ 1469, the aforesaid count granted some small particle of the same blood to Vitaliana, a little town of the duchy of Mantua. and by him This is proved by his letters in Torelli, which it will be profitable to recite here also, because they show the singular veneration of the said town toward the Saint. They run thus: To each and all of the faithful of Christ, William de Paiellis, jurisconsult, knight of Vicenza, count and Apostolic secretary, greeting and happy successes in the work of God. Well deserving is the singular observance and a certain immense devotion which the most ancient town of Vitaliana has emulously shown in exalting the most sacred name of the most glorious Nicholas of Tolentino, and especially in building him a most spacious church; so that, as I too follow the memory of this divine Confessor with a certain especial veneration, so I may offer to men of the same profession manifest proofs of my benevolence, and make plain to all the affection of my mind toward them.
[147] to the inhabitants of the town of Vitaliana Hence it is that, granting the prayers of the venerable and religious man the lord Brother Sylvester de Leffe, Prior of the convent of St. Nicholas of Tolentino of that land of Vitaliana, and also of the lord Angelinus de Lulmo and the lord Anthony della Colomba, envoys, who came to Vicenza with letters of that most excellent Community, I have with willing mind granted a particle of the miraculous blood of the most holy confessor Nicholas of Tolentino, to be kept with veneration in that church for perpetual times. And lest at any time it should be able to be called in doubt that this is of that most holy blood which shines with miracles in those parts, I have ordered all the attestations to be set down here below. There were subjoined, on Torelli's testimony,
two letters of the Reverend Father Alexander the Provincial, of which we have made mention above. Then follows: Therefore the venerable lord vicar of the most reverend lord bishop of Ancona, and the venerable chapter of Ancona, on account of the absence of the same most reverend lord bishop, having seen and read their genuine documents and pendent seals, give attestation of the aforesaid through me, the undersigned notary.
[148] devoutly affected toward the Saint. It will be yours, therefore, to follow the miraculous blood of this divine Confessor no less piously, honorably, and devoutly than also to imitate his most holy life to the best of your power. Ever offering myself for all greater things, when, God favoring, the opportunity shall present itself: in faith of all which I have ordered these presents to be made, and to be fortified with the impression of my customary pendent seal. Done and given at Vicenza in the house of my usual [] dwelling, on the XI Kalends of January MCCCCLXIX. And I, Anthony, son of the late Ambrose de Claracenis, public notary, citizen of Vicenza and chancellor, have written it. Because doubt is often wont to be raised about the credit and legality of notaries on account of the distance of places, therefore we, the noble Castellan Azmoto of Vicenza, and Podestà of the district for our most illustrious ducal dominion of the Venetians &c., give attestation and make it manifest to all who shall inspect [] these presents: the above-written Anthony de Claracenis, who wrote the present privilege, is a public notary of Vicenza, and full credit is given to the writings and instruments drawn up by him and issued in public form. In faith and testimony whereof we have ordered the present to be made, and to be sealed with our seal of St. Mark. From Vicenza on Wednesday, the XIX day of the month of December of the year MCCCCLXIX. For "Wednesday" it seems that "Tuesday" should be read, which in that year was the XIX of December.
[149] Likewise others granted to Valencia, Venice, Nicosia, the Infanta of Portugal, That there is some particle of the blood at Valentia also, Albericius writes in part 2 of the Life, chap. 2; which, however, of the various cities of that name it may be, he does not declare. In the same place he also attributes something of the same gore to the monastery of St. Stephen and to the convent of nuns of St. Andrew at Venice; and besides he asserts that something was formerly carried to Nicosia in Cyprus, namely before the year 1570, from which time it groans under the Turkish yoke. Finally he affirms that in the year 1578, on the VIII day of March, by order of Pope Gregory XIII a small piece of the cloth and a little of the cotton sprinkled with the blood was taken by the most illustrious Alphonsus Binarinus, bishop of Camerino, that it might be sent to the most serene Infanta of Portugal, who had begged of the said Pontiff some relics of St. Nicholas to be laid up in the chapel which she had dedicated to that Saint. Albericius cites for this assertion of his the letter of the Reverend Father Giles of Savona, then vicar general of the Augustinians throughout Lombardy, and the Apostolic letters of Gregory XIII given upon this matter to the said bishop of Camerino.
[150] Ludovicus Zacconius, in part 1 of the Italian Life, chap. CXI, assigns besides other cities and granted to Naples: adorned with a like sacred treasure. And first indeed, citing Ambrose of Siena, he says that a phial with the blood of St. Nicholas was formerly given to a convent of his Order in the city of Naples, and that this singular thing was observed in it: that when on the Saint's feast day it was carried about by a procession of suppliants, it appeared, not otherwise than the blood of St. Januarius, bubbling and boiling. He conjectures that this phial was brought thither under Joanna I, who obtained the kingdom of Naples about the year 1343, or under Joanna II, who obtained it about the year 1414, and whose confessors he says were Religious of his own Order. He confesses, however, that in his own time, when he was writing, it was no longer found there, but had perished by some mischance, or was laid up in the treasuries of the kings. But a most vehement suspicion almost persuades me that the phial and prodigious blood of St. Januarius have been wrongly confounded with the likewise miraculous blood of St. Nicholas. I would not, however, wish to deny that some portion of the prodigious blood of St. Nicholas is held at Naples, since the most distinguished Joseph Anthony de Fabritiis, in the little book which he composed on the Life, translation, and miracles of St. Thomas the Apostle, and printed at Naples in the year 1702, expressly reckons the blood of St. Nicholas of Tolentino among the sacred relics kept in the church of St. Augustine with the Augustinian Fathers in that city.
[151] That to Pesaro also in Umbria a very little of the cotton with which the sacred blood had been taken up was carried at the beginning of the XVI century, likewise to Pesaro and Ferrara. the same author writes, citing the written testimony of a certain contemporary inhabitant of that city, which in Italian is of this kind: The convent of St. Augustine received the relic, namely of the blood of St. Nicholas, on the day of the Ascension, which was the XVI of May MDIV; and it was gone out to meet with all the Friars of St. Augustine and the confraternity of St. Andrew as far as St. Lazarus outside the Fanestra gate: where, when it had been received and brought in with the utmost solemnity and devotion of him who received it, it was ordained that thereafter, after the solemn Mass, the following antiphon should be said: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, that by the merits of Nicholas we may be drawn to the joy of heaven. Lastly he says that at Ferrara (he means, if I mistake not, the capital of the duchy of the same name) something of the same blood is kept by the confraternity which formerly assembled under the title of St. Nicholas in the church of St. Augustine, but now in its own.
[152] But memorable is what the same Albericius writes was done at Sulmona in the Abruzzi with a small piece of the cloth A part of the cloth stained with the sacred blood stained with the same blood. It pleases me to report it in his own words and on his own credit, lest I should seem to have added or taken away anything. At Sulmona, he says, a city of the Abruzzi, there is kept a piece of the cloth in which the bloodstained arms of the aforesaid glorious father St. Nicholas were wrapped, and it is certainly established that that relic is genuine and true. For in the year MDLXXXIII, when the bishop had heard that our Fathers on the fourth Sunday of the month, which with us is likewise the Sunday of the Cincture, carried about in procession in a certain tabernacle a piece of the cowl of St. Augustine, he doubted whether that relic might not be a fabrication to impose upon the people; and therefore, summoning the Prior, he asked with what certainty or on what ground they (namely our Fathers) knew that that cowl was St. Augustine's. The Prior answered, saying that it had been held as such by their ancient Fathers, and that he honored it as such, just as they had venerated it.
[153] is said to have wonderfully withstood the fire at Sulmona The bishop therefore, that he might do injury to no one, invited the bishops of Aquila and Penne, and by a decree published enacted that all the relics of Sulmona should on an appointed day be brought to the cathedral church; and a fire having been built outside the door of the aforesaid church, the bishops came clothed in pontifical vestments with the clergy, and examined them one by one. Of two only will I treat here, namely of the cowl of the holy Father Augustine and the piece of St. Nicholas's cloth, which, both being cast into the fire, remained in it so long that without any doubt they must have been consumed; then, in the sight of all, they leaped forth of their own accord about four feet into the air, with such admiration of the aforesaid prelates and of the others, that, taking them up with the utmost reverence, they most diligently examined them to see whether they were scorched in any part of them; and when they found them untouched and not even smelling of fire, they replaced them in their reliquaries; and, the examination of the relics belonging to the other Religious being finished, each was carried back home.
[154] is said to have borne it wonderfully. But because these things had been done publicly and solemnly, applause was made with church bell and drums, and each chancellor — the one, namely, of the cathedral church, the other of the magnificent magistracy — demanded an instrument of the deed: the former indeed, because this cause belonged to the episcopal court, the latter, that he might record it among the monuments of the city; since it had been performed with such great solemnity and pomp as no other had ever been made for many miles round about. Thus far Ludovicus Zacconius; upon which a few things are to be observed. That that manner of testing sacred relics by fire was formerly in use may be seen in the learned Work of the most eminent Prosper de Lambertinis, now happily reigning as Pope Benedict XIV, on the beatification of the Servants of God &c., book 4, part 2, chap. 24; of which matter you have also an example in our Work at the VIII day of September, in the Appendix to the Acts of St. Adrian the martyr, p. 237, num. 37. It is to be observed secondly that Ludovicus Zacconius published this Life at Pesaro in the year 1624, and was by birth of Pesaro; and thus was far distant neither in place nor in time from the prodigy which he here narrates.
[155] Another portion sent to the grand duke of Tuscany, another to Munich. In the Flemish Life of the Saint, often praised, there is extant a letter of the most reverend Father Peter Le Drou, of the Order of St. Augustine, bishop of Porphyreon, given at Rome on the XII day of December in the year 1699 to the Reverend Father Melyn of the same Order, in which mention is made of a like piece of silken cloth sprinkled with the sacred blood, sent as a gift by order of Pope Innocent XII to the grand duke of Tuscany about the year 1695; and the author of the Life adds in the same place that those relics are kept at Florence in the court chapel of the same grand duke, and are every year on the X day of September carried in procession, escorted by a hundred praetorian soldiers, to the church of the Augustinians, and, the festivity being ended, are brought back thence to the said chapel. There is extant in the same place another letter also of the same most illustrious bishop of Porphyreon, given likewise from the City in the year 1706 to the most honorable magistracy of Antwerp, which mentions relics of this kind solemnly elevated at Munich in Bavaria in the year 1705. Both letters we shall recite below.
Annotata* solitæ
* præsentes
§ XII. Various portions of the sacred blood brought into Belgium, and there venerated.
[ ] Portions of the sacred blood brought into Belgium, The reverend father Nicholas de Tombeur, of whom we have already often made mention in the preliminary Commentary, reviews various particles of the blood of St. Nicholas honored in our Belgium, in Appendix 7 to the Life of the same Saint, from which receive the following. Parts also of the linen stained with the blood of St. Nicholas were given to various persons with the Pope's consent: but omitting the others, I shall treat only of those which were brought to the monasteries of this Flemish-Belgian province. The ardent zeal and cult of the Belgian people toward St. Nicholas had long panted with the utmost desire to obtain at least some relics of so great a Patron; and at last with the highest exultation it gained its wish. With what applause and testimony of a grateful mind it received them, the signs of extraordinary joy and triumph displayed in each of those cities on the day of the exaltation of the relics &c. were living testimonies. For in a solemn procession, with the clergy both secular and Regular accompanying, the magistracy in a body, and with the illumination and magnificent adornment of the houses, the holy relics were carried, and triumphal fires were built, with a very great concourse of the people.
[157] In the year MDCCV the convent of Ghent obtained this treasure before all others in Belgium, and first Ghent in the year 1705. on the XV of June, given by the hand of Clement XI himself to Peter Lambert Le Drou, Master of Sacred Theology, then papal sacristan and bishop of Porphyreon, and afterwards vicar general of the diocese of Liège, for the convent of Ghent. Now it is a SMALL PIECE of the covering
OF SILK STEEPED IN THE MIRACULOUS BLOOD OF THE ARMS of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, taken from another larger part sent as a gift to his Holiness by Alexander Varano, bishop of Macerata and Tolentino. It was brought hither from Rome by the very Reverend Father Gregory Ackerboom, then Prior of the convent, formerly definitor &c. In the same year it was exalted at Ghent with the utmost magnificence.
[158] The convent of Antwerp in the year MDCCVII, through the repeated urging of the magistracy, for increasing piety and enriching the most noble confraternity The people of Antwerp, a like portion long since instituted in honor of the same Saint and for the refreshment of souls, obtained some particle. The celebration of the exaltation took place on the V of June, the excellent Father Master Gerard Melyn, doctor of sacred Theology, being then Prior of the convent for the fourth time. Of these Antwerp relics of St. Nicholas Fr. Francis de Corte treats at length in the little book often mentioned; and I think it will not be unwelcome to the reader if I transfer hither some things from it, that he may gather from it in how great esteem that sacred blood of the Thaumaturge is held, and how difficult it is to obtain any few drops of it. The copious effusion of gore which we said occurred in the years 1698 and 1699 in §§8, 9, and 10 had stirred among the senators of the magistracy of Antwerp — very many of whom, he says, had given their names to the pious confraternity of St. Nicholas, instituted for the refreshment of the departed — a desire of obtaining some particle of it. To this end, together with the Reverend Father Gerard Melyn, moderator of the same confraternity, they sent letters to Rome to the most illustrious Peter Lambert Le Drou, bishop of Porphyreon and papal sacristan. But at that time the matter by no means succeeded according to their wishes.
[159] long prayed for in vain, For he, on the XII day of December of the year 1699, replied to the said excellent Father Melyn in these words: Excellent Father, neither the Father General nor our Fathers of Tolentino can comply with the desire of the lords of your magistracy as regards the miraculous gore of St. Nicholas; because both the arms and the cloths stained with that sacred gore are under their custody together with that of the magistracy of Tolentino, which in no way allows anything, even the least, to be given to another; and therefore, as often as the arms are exposed or visited (which cannot be done save in its presence), it has more than the eyes of Argus to watch that our Fathers do not filch or set anything aside. It is now a year and more that for the said cause I have labored in vain, that by the efforts of our Fathers — who, I certainly know, greatly desire and wish to gratify me in this — I might receive something of the same sacred gore. Nothing at all can be wrung from that magistracy unless the Pontiff commands it; and when he does command (which he very rarely does), even so they comply grudgingly and unwillingly. Of which thing I have been for about four years an eyewitness, when in my presence, and not without an uproar, they addressed the Pontiff, asking (though in vain) that they might be allowed to keep the silken cloth besprinkled with the said blood, which he had ordered to be given to the grand duke of Tuscany.
[160] being disappointed of their hope, The men of Antwerp deferred their wishes to a more opportune time; nor was it many years after that an occasion presented itself, which they used happily. In the year 1700 the sacred arms had again sweated copious blood, and something of it taken up on a silken cloth the bishop of Macerata or the magistracy of Tolentino had, as we said above, sent to Pope Clement XI; and he had granted some portion of it, at the urging of the bishop of Porphyreon praised above, to the Convent of the Augustinians at Ghent in Flanders, and another to that of Munich in Bavaria, in the year 1705. This kindness of the Pontiff stirred the men of Antwerp to press again for obtaining a like portion; and they pressed by letters sent from the above-said Reverend Father Melyn to the praised bishop of Porphyreon, who in the same year made them full of hope, and in the next following made them fully possessed of their wish.
[161] at length through the bishop of Porphyreon For in the year 1705 he transmitted from Rome the letter which I subjoin, to the said Father Melyn: Excellent Father Master, Prior, as soon as I read your latest letters, I judged that you were asking a great thing and one exceedingly singular, which even kings would desire and hold precious; namely, of the covering of the arms of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, steeped in his miraculous blood. And since not long since I had obtained some for our convents of Munich and Ghent, I scarcely had the heart to ask for more; because I believed it could not be done without a mark of presumption, and while preserving the modesty and reverence which it befits one to keep with the supreme monarch of the Church. Impelled, however, by your great desire and that of your most noble senate, and likewise by my own inclination toward you, I ventured six days ago to petition his Holiness; and he deigned kindly to assent, and I should presently have received the wished-for gift, had his Holiness then been in his innermost or more private chamber, where that excellent relic is kept: yet I shall certainly receive it. I have opportunity from time to time of approaching him when he withdraws thither; nor shall I then fail to seize the occasion of refreshing his memory, distracted as it is with almost infinite other affairs: and when I have received the sacred pledge, I shall transmit it without delay.
[162] The bishop stood by his promises, and eleven months later obtained from Clement XI the long-desired relics, from Pope Clement XI and transmitted them into Belgium to the aforesaid Father Melyn, and at the same time informed the most honorable senate of Antwerp of so happy a success in these words: Most noble and most honorable lords. At length from the utmost kindness of our most holy Lord Pope Clement XI I have obtained a small piece of the silken covering of the arms of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, steeped in his miraculous blood, with an ardent desire of which your most noble and most honorable lordships have long been held; and lest your expectation of that sacred pledge be further protracted, I today transmit it to the excellent Father Master Gerard Melyn, together with our testimonial letters drawn up in authentic form by order of his Holiness, and with an Apostolic Brief of the indulgences which each one may once obtain within the octave of its exaltation, to be performed among you with solemn rite (as at least my opinion holds, and the great piety of you all bids me hope): with the addition besides of an exact account of the things which were chiefly done at Munich in Bavaria in the year last past, for the adorning and the solemn exaltation of a like relic, which will be an example to your excellent devotion and will perhaps provoke it to a pious emulation.
[163] Moreover I not only rejoice exceedingly, but also deservedly reckon, and shall ever reckon, among the chief of the happy things that have ever befallen me, they obtain, that I have been able to contribute some labor with our most holy Lord, that your most noble confraternity and your most honorable and likewise most celebrated city might be enriched with so rare and so precious a treasure, to the envy of very many, and that in this way the earnest desire of both might be satisfied… Below was subscribed: F. Peter Lambert, bishop of Porphyreon. Rome, the XXV of September MDCCVI. And on the outside the letter was addressed: To the most noble and most honorable lords the chief praetor, consuls, and senate of the city of Antwerp.
[164] I subjoin also other letters of the same bishop, by which he declares the authenticity of the sacred pledge, and which they received in the year 1706, as they were published after the panegyric Oration delivered on this occasion by the often-mentioned excellent Father Melyn, and they are of this kind: F. Peter Lambert Le Drou of Huy, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See bishop of Porphyreon, prefect of the Apostolic sacristy and assistant bishop of the pontifical throne. To each and all who shall inspect these our present letters we give attestation and testify how our most holy Lord, Lord Clement XI, Pope, desiring more and more to increase in the most celebrated city of Antwerp, that most noble emporium of Belgium, the devotion toward St. Nicholas of Tolentino which greatly flourishes there, at our most humble and earnest prayers deigned kindly to command that from the portion of the silken covering of the arms of the same St. Nicholas, steeped in his miraculous blood — sent to him formerly as a gift by the most illustrious and most reverend lord Alexander Varano, bishop of Macerata and Tolentino, together with authentic letters seen and examined by us — we should take a small piece, sprinkled with the same sacred gore, to the effect of giving it in his Holiness's name to the convent of Antwerp of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, and to the venerable and most noble confraternity long since erected in the church of the same convent under the invocation of the aforesaid St. Nicholas of Tolentino: and how we, reverently executing the pious commands of the same our most holy Lord, cut out a small piece of this kind from the approved silken covering, and thereafter placed it in a silver reliquary of oval form, and transmitted the same reliquary, enriched with that sacred treasure and closed at the lower part with a silken thread of red color and fortified with our lesser seal hanging from the same silken thread and impressed on red Spanish wax, to the very reverend and excellent Father Master Gerard Melyn, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, doctor of sacred Theology and Prior of the convent of Antwerp, for the same convent and the aforesaid confraternity, with faculty of exposing it both publicly and privately to the veneration of the faithful, and with the express prohibition of his Holiness, under pain of excommunication, and moreover, as regards Regulars, of privation of active and passive voice, to be incurred ipso facto, that no one presume ever to alienate the aforesaid holy relic, either wholly or in part, on any pretext whatever, or in any manner to give it to any other place or person. In faith whereof we have ordered these our letters, subscribed by us and by our secretary, and sealed with our greater seal impressed on a red wafer, to be issued in patent form. Rome, the XXV of September MDCCVI. And it was signed
F. Peter Lambert, bishop of Porphyreon.
Place ✠ of the Seal.
and below there stood: Caspar Fabricius, Secretary.
[165] in the year 1707 they solemnly elevate them. Finally these sacred relics, examined by the most illustrious Reginald Cools, bishop of Antwerp, on the XVIII day of October of the year 1706, and afterwards enclosed in an elegant silver case, were on the V day of June in the year 1707 elevated with great pomp, and for a whole octave honored with singular solemnity in the church of the Reverend Augustinian Fathers, where the cult of them flourishes not a little to this day. Now let us resume the narrative of Father Tombeur, which we interrupted for a while.
[166] Another portion of the blood at Enghien, The convent of Enghien (in the speech of the inhabitants Enghien, a little town of Hainaut on the borders of Brabant, distinguished with the title of a duchy) in the year MDCCX solemnly exalted another particle, procured from Rome through the most serene princess of Arenberg, countess of Egmont, under the Prior Adrian Le Verd, now definitor of the province. The convent of Brussels, having obtained the same benefit at the instance of the most eminent Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church Paolucci and Julius Piazza, then bishop of Faenza and Apostolic Nuncio to his Imperial and Royal Majesty, instituted a magnificent Octave on the day of the exaltation of the sacred gore, begun on the Kalends of February, with solemn offices sung in music for eight days, sermons delivered daily, with plenary indulgences &c.
[167] others elevated at Brussels and venerated, On the day before the Kalends of February, the houses and squares — chiefly the market-place and the town hall — being illuminated on every side, as is customary in public triumphs, amid the blare of drums and trumpets, with an incredible throng and devotion of the peoples,
it was translated from the church of St. Gudula to ours, most sumptuously adorned, the youth of our school going before with torches and banners, and there following the Religious of seven different Orders, the confraternity of the Cincture and that of Loreto, which visited Tolentino; then the most noble and most honorable magistracy in a body, and the venerable Chapter of St. Gudula: among whom was borne the most precious reliquary with the sacred gore enclosed, carried alternately upon the shoulders of eight priests with stoles, from the aforesaid Chapter and from our Order. Moreover every year on the Sunday before the solemnity of All Saints it celebrates an Octave with pomp and a concourse of the people, chiefly by the care and industry of the most learned Father Master Philip Tax, then for the second and afterwards for the third time Provincial, an untiring promoter of the cult of St. Nicholas.
[168] For the convent of Huy (Huy is a town of Belgium in the diocese of Liège, likewise at Huy, Bouillon, and Diest. on the river Meuse, between Liège and Namur) these relics were obtained in the year MDCCXV, through the procurement of the aforesaid bishop of Porphyreon, then prefect of the Apostolic sacristy and a son of this convent; and they were exalted under the Reverend Father Alypius Gikin. And hence also the convent of Bouillon obtained some in the year MDCCXVI (Bouillon is a little town, capital of the duchy of the same name, in Belgium), when Fulgentius Collignon was Prior. Finally the convent of Diest (in the speech of the inhabitants Diest, likewise a town of Belgium in the duchy of Brabant), being honored with the same treasure in the year MDCCXX, held an extraordinary solemnity at the exaltation, and throughout the Octave sermons were delivered daily, to which almost all the citizens flocked. At the request of the magistracy the excellent Father Master John Libens, doctor of sacred Theology, then regent of the studium of Louvain, now Prior of the same convent, solicited and obtained those relics. Very many have experienced great solace. These are the things which I have found concerning the relics of the prodigious blood of St. Nicholas, honorably received in various places; nor is there doubt that it is kept in very many others also.
§ XIII. The Saint's apparitions to Bl. Rita of Cascia and Bl. Helena of Udine: statues at Tolentino, Cordova, Venice, and elsewhere, illustrious for miracles.
To Bl. Rita of Cascia, SS. John the Baptist, Augustine Although among the miracles collected by various authors and to be recited below there occur very many apparitions with which our holy Hermit frequently favored his clients, it has nevertheless seemed good to review here two for which there will be no fitting place elsewhere. In tom. 5 of May of our Work, at the XXII day, there is extant the Life of Bl. Rita, widow, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, compiled by Augustine Cavalluccio from two others, in which a signal apparition of our St. Nicholas is reported. After the praised writer had said, in chap. 1, num. 3, that that blessed widow, her husband having been slain and her children dead, had already thrice asked in vain to be admitted among the Augustinian nuns at Cascia in Umbria, he proceeds thus at num. 4: Therefore, continuing her accustomed exercises of prayer, while on a certain night she was keeping vigil in supplication, she heard the door of her house struck rather violently and the voice of one calling: Rita, Rita. She runs at once to the window, but, seeing no one before the house, when she had given herself again to prayer she heard a like voice addressed to her, by which she was admonished to ask of Jesus that she be received as his spouse; and she saw three Saints sent to her aid. Then, rapt into ecstasy, she felt it said to her with a clear voice: Come, beloved Rita, for now it is time that thou enter the monastery from which thou hast so often been repulsed.
[170] and Nicholas, appearing, lead her into the monastery. She therefore went again to the window, and saw before the doors St. John the Baptist, after whom she straightway went forth as far as the place which is called the Crag of Roccaporena, and was struck with dread at the horror of so sheer a height as one would shudder to attempt even in full daylight. But two others of her advocates presently appearing — the holy Father Augustine and St. Nicholas of Tolentino — resuming courage she followed them as far as Cascia, and penetrated within the monastery itself, all the doors and windows remaining shut as they were. And when the nuns marveled at this, and, suspecting one another, cast the blame of an unbarred house upon each other, she, frankly professing what had been miraculously done, easily persuaded the Sisters not to wish to cast out one whom the Saints had brought in. Torelli in his Annals attaches these things to the year 1417.
[171] St. Nicholas to Bl. Helena of Udine Other apparitions of the Saint are related by Simon the Roman, Hermit of St. Augustine, in the Life of Bl. Helena of Udine, likewise a widow and a nun of the same Order, which he wrote in the same year of Christ 1458 in which the Blessed one died, and which our Elders illustrated in tom. 3 of April at the XXIII day. He, in chap. 3, num. 2, introduces that blessed nun speaking in this manner with a certain Sister named Perfecta: O dearest Sister, I will open to thee the secret of my heart, only do not, while I live, make it manifest to anyone; but after my death do as the Lord shall inspire thee. Know that this evening, and on many other occasions, my sweet Lord Jesus Christ has deigned to speak and to appear to me, a most unworthy sinner, together with his most holy Mother, my Lady, in whose company were my beloved father St. Augustine and St. Nicholas and St. Monica, whose habit I unworthily wear: and when I see them, I am filled with such sweetness as human tongue cannot explain.
[172] appears often. Again at num. 6 he writes thus: At another time, persevering in prayer in the same place, she was as it were rapt out of her senses, until St. Nicholas, in the black habit of an Augustinian Hermit, knocking at the door of the oratory, said: Open to me, sister Helena. But before she could open it, the door was opened to him by divine power, and the Saint entered, saying to Helena: Peace be to thee with thee. Then, embracing her, he lifted her above the oratory and set her down again, saying: So do, going forward from good to better, sister; for thus shalt thou be carried into paradise by the angels: and when he had said this the Saint disappeared; but the Blessed one presently ordered that his Office [*] be solemnly sung, and declared this vision to her aforenamed sister.
[173] [The Saint's image at Tolentino, sweating, foretells the death of Pope Eugenius IV] Of the images or statues of St. Nicholas some prodigies also are reported, of which I here subjoin the three more notable which I have read. First of all Zacconius, in part 1 of the Life, chap. 122, reports that the Saint's image which is venerated in his chapel at Tolentino foretold by a manifest sweat the impending death of Pope Eugenius IV, which fell in the year of Christ 1447. For this matter he cites Ambrose Frigerius, whose words he reviews, and we report them from him in Latin. This Pontiff, he says, venerated the glorious Father St. Nicholas with a singular piety, on account of the various benefits which in sicknesses and dangers he had obtained from God through his merits and patronage: but also before the death of Eugenius himself, a little before he expired, this miracle besides appeared in the chapel of the same Saint which is built in the church of St. Augustine at Tolentino: that his principal effigy sweated most abundantly in the sight of all. To behold this miracle the legate and governor of the March of Ancona hastened with all the people, and the legate said this: Shortly you will see some change in the Church of God. And indeed on the next day the news was brought of the death of his Holiness after a Pontificate of nineteen (rather, about sixteen) years, and at the same time it was understood that the Pontiff had rendered his soul at the same hour at which the Saint's effigy had sweated and had displayed the said prodigy.
[174] Father Augustine Paoletti, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, Prior Provincial for the province of Siena in Italy, Prodigies of the images of the Crucifix and of St. Nicholas at Cordova, in his 29th sermon on St. Nicholas of Tolentino, records another prodigy of a certain statue of the Saint, wrought at Cordova in Spain, addressing him thus: But if in the city of Cordova, which is the metropolis of all Andalusia in Spain, the plague, that manifest scourge of God, should put forth its furies, and if, while the whole city was betaking itself to a certain devout procession to appease the fury of divine Justice, thy confraternity should come forth to meet it, bearing in place of a banner on the one side a Crucifix, and on the other the statue of St. Nicholas — then straightway it will be seen that, as soon as the two companies have come close upon one another, thy statue, O St. Nicholas, though of wood, will fall kneeling at the feet of the Crucifix; and the Crucifix himself, loosing his hands from the nails and from the cross, will sweetly embrace thee his Servant, and on that very day, for thy sake, the contagion of the whole city will suddenly cease.
[175] Father John de Leenheer, an Augustinian Hermit of Brussels in Belgium, following Paoletti, reported by Paoletti and Leenheer, had the said prodigy engraved in copper and published, and subscribed the following: In the year MDCII a dreadful pestilence had corrupted Cordova, a town of Spain in Bætica. After human remedies had been applied to no purpose, recourse was had to heavenly ones. On one day a twofold procession was appointed toward the hospital situated outside the walls of the city. In one of the processions, which was that of the Reverend Franciscan Fathers, a venerable image of the Crucifix was carried about; in the other, which was that of the Reverend Augustinian Fathers, a wooden statue of the Lord Nicholas of Tolentino. These two images met one another by chance near the gate of the city: but — O stupendous thing! — the statue of the Lord Nicholas fell down at the feet of the Crucifix, and, kissing them, seemed to pray to God for the people of Cordova. Which miracle, the whole people looking on, lasted no small time; until at length the Crucifix himself also, his hands loosed from the cross, sweetly embraced Nicholas upon the forehead, as if to signify the reconciliation of the people with God at the prayers of the Lord Nicholas. And so it came to pass that on the same day the contagion of the whole city entirely ceased. Thus he, citing Paoletti: but it certainly seems to me that both of them have enlarged and multiplied the prodigies.
[176] they are examined, and from Christopher de Busto So to judge I am compelled by Father Christopher de Busto, likewise an Augustinian Hermit, who wrote in Spanish a little work concerning the miracles which were obtained through the patronage of St. Nicholas in the years 1601 and 1602, while the plague was raging in the city of Cordova, where he himself was then dwelling; which we shall set forth in Latin from the Spanish, in §17 and the following, from the recension of Bernard Navarro, a Religious of the same Order, who reprinted it. Further, the whole course of the matter which pertains to the prodigious image of the Saint the reader will find in §20, in the author's own phrases turned into Latin, as he has advised [*]; but here we shall report in a few words only those things which plainly help toward discerning what appears true or false in the accounts reviewed.
[177] The praised Christopher de Busto, then, writes it is shown what in their narrative that the lord James de Vargas y Carvajal, lord of El Puerto, praetor and president of the justice of Cordova, together with the rest of the senators, decreed that as a remedy for the raging plague the statue of St. Nicholas should be carried to the hospital of St. Lazarus, which was outside the walls of the city; and that it was in fact carried thither by the Augustinian Fathers on the VII day of June in the year 1602, the said praetor and the rest of the college of senators accompanying it. And the prodigy he narrates in these words:
At the end of the road a chapel with an altar piously adorned had been raised of branches, herbs, and various flowers, in which Father Brother John de Navas, of the Order of the holy Father Francis, confessor of the hospital, awaited them, clothed in alb and stole and bearing in his hands a great and devout icon of the Crucifix. On one side of the chapel stood the women and children, on the other the convalescent men; and as many as their strength allowed had flocked thither to receive the image of the Saint…
[178] is true, When the sacred effigy was being brought to the altar, the Father who bore it fell upon his knees before the Father confessor who held the Crucifix, and at the same time all who were present in that field likewise fell upon their knees… The Father who bore the Saint's effigy began to raise it, … and lifted it until the Saint's face reached the most sacred feet of the Crucifix; and when it had reached them, the glorious Saint kissed them, and clung with his mouth to those most holy feet for the space in which one might recite the Apostles' Creed. He adds that this prodigy of the Saint kissing was received with the loudest cries and lamentations of the sick who lay round about, and that the same prodigy was repeated a little after, and that at last the said statue was brought into the hospital. But he records nothing of an embrace returned by the icon of the Crucifix — as he doubtless would have recorded, had that in fact happened. Nor yet does it appear doubtful that this prodigy of St. Nicholas's statue is that same one which is narrated by the Fathers mentioned above, clothed and enlarged with other circumstances.
[179] what appears false. Besides, it is not true that on the same day on which the said prodigy occurred — not near the gate of the city, but before the hospital — the contagion of the whole city ceased: for the said Christopher de Busto, an eyewitness of the events, although he confesses that from the aforesaid VII day of June the plague raged much more mildly both in the city and in the hospital, nevertheless expressly affirms in chapter 6 that it was then by no means extinguished, and testifies that from the XX to the XXX of the same month of June five Religious of his convent were carried off by that pestilence, whereas until that time that convent had stood wholly untouched by that evil. He adds finally that another statue of St. Nicholas was carried about by night within the cloisters of the monastery by the Augustinian Fathers, stricken by so many deaths of their own, on the XXX day of June, and that from that time the plague so far abated that on the XV day of July no one in the whole city was found any longer infected with it, and that at last on the XXVIII day of the same month the public health was proclaimed, as we shall see in §23.
[180] That at Venice also a statue of the Saint famous for miracles is venerated in the church of the Augustinians, An ancient marble statue of the Saint. we learn from a certain letter written in Italian by Brother Fulgentius Arminius of Avellino, an Augustinian, and published first at Bologna, then at Rome in the year 1653. It bears the following title: A letter in which are reported the prodigies wrought in the marble statue of St. Nicholas of Tolentino at Venice, in the church of St. Stephen of the Augustinian Fathers. And it is addressed: To the very reverend Father Master, Fr. Aurelius Augustine Siliman, Augustinian, collegiate doctor of Bologna: but in what year it was written, or when the prodigy occurred, is not expressed — perhaps because it was printed in the same year in which it occurred. Further, from this letter I shall report only those things which make to our purpose, omitting the writer's allegorical observations, in which he is sufficiently prolix.
[181] Your very reverend Paternity's holy curiosity, he says, requires of me in the church of the Augustinians at Venice that I should inform you of the prodigies which have appeared in the marble statue of St. Nicholas of Tolentino… There is seen in this church the Saint's chapel, which by its antiquity ever instills new affections of reverence into the faithful, and, although it is of marble, which is so hard, softens the hearts of Christians. The altar exhibits in three distinct niches three statues of admirable carving, which their age much commends, and which the spaces of so many years have not disfigured. On the right is the effigy of St. Paul; … on the left is seen that of St. Jerome… In the middle of these statues is placed the likeness of St. Nicholas, so like a living man that at the present time, by opening its mouth, it has shown that speech too is not wanting to it. The Lombard chisel, imitating the iron scourges with which the Saint flogged himself, has made it lean, and it has itself remained bloodless from so many blows. That is: that statue exhibits the Saint emaciated by the harsh chastisements of his body and as it were bloodless. He adds finally that it carries a lily in its hand, and is not of great size.
[182] It is now long since it pleased the divine goodness to confer benefits upon the pious clients of our Hero irradiated with prodigious splendor, it opens its mouth and eyes who is honored in this statue, as very many tablets testify which, hung up in the chapel, render thanks most humbly to the Saint with a humble painting, and repay painted thanks for true benefits… Great was the people's devotion at this altar; but God, who perhaps desired it greater, willed to increase it by prodigies. On the second feria of Pentecost, while the sun was sinking to its setting, his graces arose; and while the sun was to be wrapped in the darkness of the world, the majesty of this Saint remained illuminated. There were then in the church the lords Luke Carrara and Ludovicus Bartatti, priests, the lord John Baptist Rovetti, the lord John Brochio, and others kneeling and praying there; who, while they were laying their desires before the Saint and had so fixed their eyes upon his statue, saw (as they testified in the inquiry) the effigy opening its eyes and mouth; and above the head of the statue luminous splendors were flaming… before very many senators and men of the first rank,
[183] These devout men ran (to the Augustinian Fathers, who were then at supper), and, bathed in tears, showed showers amid so great a serenity. They called the Fathers, who, hastening into the church, fell upon their knees and sang pious prayers; and when a numerous crowd of the people also had flowed together, the prodigies persevered until the second hour of the night… These same signs continued for many days, and senators of such repute testified to them upon oath that I should think those who denied them to be made of marble no less than the statue in which they appeared. Fullest credit to this truth, as having seen it most clearly, was given by the most illustrious and most excellent lords Francis Trono and Francis Morosini, and by these most excellent lords it was brilliantly confirmed. The same was most plainly affirmed by the most illustrious lord John Dominic Grimani, the most illustrious lord Julius Donato, the most illustrious lord John Luigi, the lord John Toffetti, the most illustrious lord count Hippolytus Francanzano, the most illustrious lord knight John Baptist di Settimo, and others: whence I conclude that that prodigy cannot be obscure, for the illustrating of which so many titles concur.
[184] who testified to it. It is also made famous by many miracles The same truth was confirmed by the most distinguished lords Peter Regia, Frederick Porta, Daniel Giordano, as also the most excellent lords Dominic Vincenti, N. Frugazzati, and others in such number that, since my purpose is to write a letter and not a calendar, I have judged that they should be passed over. The same was proved also by the benefits which the sick confessed had been conferred upon them, so evidently that a certain niece of the most illustrious and most excellent lord Morosini del Campo made it publicly known that she had recovered her sight; that a certain merchant with all his household testified that he had been delivered from poison; that more than thirty contracted persons proclaimed themselves healed, and so many sick proclaimed their health restored to them, that — since the power of medicine lies not in herbs or stones, but consists in the invocation of the Saint — it may hereafter be said to be placed in words alone. The benefits obtained others have already written down, and therefore I, who desire to be brief, have not wished to set these forth, lest I should diminish by my pen things which are declared to be sublime in number and in substance.
[185] and benefits There were not wanting those who said at first that these things were an error of the devout, or a trick of the eyes, or something of that kind: but reason has persuaded minds of this truth so firmly that it is held as indubitable… Noblemen of the highest esteem, senators of the best name, men of the most upright reputation have attested it; and to confirm the prodigy of the statue opening its mouth, men of the harshest judgment have given their verdict. Some were saying that miracles are wrought for a certain end, and, this being unknown to them, it seemed to them fair to say that here there was none. And truly the divine goodness, which bears our sins patiently, willed to begin its prodigies in hearts of flesh, that it might declare the end of the stone statue. Formerly the most inveterate sinners used to run to the Saint; and while these perhaps most of all refused to believe, they beheld the miracle, and, drowning their old offenses in tears, cast them down at the priest's feet. I could not do less than smile at petitions worthy of so many tears. After these things the writer, having venerated the inscrutable judgments of God, shows that credit is unjustly denied to miracles of this kind, lawfully confirmed by so many men of the first rank and of the most upright reputation, and by others in no way suspect in this matter, whereas in civil cases the authority of two or three witnesses is esteemed of so much weight.
[186] Then again he continues in this manner: With the utmost piety the people flowed together, and still flows together, to the church… and it is made famous by the frequent concourse of the people. Nor can anyone imagine how frequent are the benefits with which it is favored. The walls are henceforth more august for receiving the tablets of so many vows and prodigies, and the same appear more adorned with the paintings of those who publicly set forth their calamities than formerly, when, covered with barbarous tapestries, they so splendidly exhibited barbarism to the eyes. Besides, Joachim Brulius, in book 16, chap. 6 of the Peruvian History, narrates the notable case of the river Mamacona in Peru, a kingdom of South America, which suspended the course of its waters while the statue of St. Nicholas was being carried to the Augustinian monastery of Valverde: but of that we shall treat more fittingly in the last §.
§ XIV. The dead recalled to life.
[187] The Saint is made famous by many miracles, With what frequent miracles this holy Thaumaturge grew famous immediately after his death may be gathered from Jordan of Saxony, who in the XIV century says in the Lives of the Brethren, book 2, chap. XI: Many and innumerable other miracles God has wrought through the same blessed Man, which the tongue would scarcely suffice to tell or the pen to write out, and he works them to this present day; of some of which there is a special Treatise at the end of the book. And that these things were said by Jordan not without reason is clear from the Bull of canonization, published in the XV century, in which Eugenius IV testified that three hundred and one miracles were proved for his canonization, as we showed in § IV. Hence John Baptist of Mantua, the excellent poet of the XV century, sang thus upon this subject:
There is no need for us to recount his portents concerning every kind of disease, concerning the air, concerning the fortunes and fates of men, concerning hostile seas: for there is none among the Saints who has ever shone with more signs, from the age of the earliest Christ-born, who were the foundations of the faith, to this present time; nor have his miracles an end; unceasingly this most abundant power flows, as though
a river coming from the eddy of an inexhaustible Fount.
188] There are those who report three hundred portents worthy [of which we give many, collected from various sources.to be read; but no vigilance can gather into a single set of Annals the deeds done through the whole world until now; it is uncertain and unsearchable, however much you may wish to sweat at it and to rise to it with your whole effort. And what I wonder at the more (for this thing is more arduous than nature could attempt, more than the mortal hearts of men would dare to hope, did not his known power give hope) — the Annals of these things record that after death so many souls returned again into their own bodies, the tomb being already made, when already the funeral procession was beginning to go forth; so that he might be called the prefect of the underworld, and one who lays down laws upon the three Fates as he wills.
Now a great part of these we have already given above from his biographer; but here we shall recite those which are reviewed here and there among various modern writers. Nor yet do we intend to recite them all; for besides that in this way the Commentary would grow excessively large, we scarcely doubt that a great number of them escape us.
[189] A man murdered and cast into boiling waters, I begin from the miracles of the first class, namely from the dead restored to life, of whom, on Jordan's testimony, book 2, chap. XI, more than twenty were reckoned in the XIV century. The praised author, in the place just cited, narrates a wonderful history, the like of which you would not easily find, and therefore I shall review it in his own words and on his own credit. At Monte Rotondo a certain Man, going along the road, meeting his enemies and not being able to escape their hands, asked, for the love of God and of St. Nicholas, that a priest and confessor be summoned for him before they should kill him; and they, denying this to him, slew him while he commended himself to God and to Bl. Nicholas. When he was dead, they took the body and threw it into a hot lake, where there was boiling water bubbling up from the earth; in which casting the body sank to the bottom and remained there for eight days.
[190] is raised by the Saint, and returning home On the eighth day Bl. Nicholas came in his habit and raised him from the lake; from which he, leaping forth, with Bl. Nicholas leading him, came to the aforesaid castle (Monte Rotondo) by night, crying out that the gate should be opened to him: which being opened, he came inside into his own house, his wife and children weeping for joy and receiving him. He laid himself upon his bed and, having asked for a priest, made his confession and was communicated with the Body of the Lord: and when he had been anointed, he made his testament, and so, bidding farewell to his wife, his children, and all, he expired at the third hour, having first told how Bl. Nicholas had raised him, guarded him, and led him to his own place. When this was done, and he had been laid in the bier, there were white bones without flesh, which are said to be preserved as a miracle to this present day.
[191] and, having confessed his sins, dies. Thus Jordan, who first, so far as I know, related this wonderful history; for neither in Peter of Monte Rubiano nor in any other older than Jordan have I found any memory of it. Now I supposed that by Monte Rotondo was designated that town which in geographical Tables is written Monte Ritundo and Rotondo, and is placed in the province of Sabina, about two miles from the Tiber, and nine or ten from the city of Rome toward the North: but Ludovicus Zacconius, in part 2 of the Life, chap. 2, advises that the place of which the matter here treats is now called Mont'Ortona, and is situated not far from Padua in the Venetian dominion. Zacconius is favored by the nature of the place, for not far thence springs of boiling waters bubble up, called the Fonts of Aponus and of Padua, into which the corpse of the murdered man could have been thrown.
[192] A girl, dead at Fermo, Another signal prodigy of a girl raised to life Torelli reports at the year of Christ 1318, num. 12, which he says occurred in that very year at Fermo in Italy, and cites for it the Process of canonization, in which he affirms that it is set forth in the manner in which he himself relates it; and therefore it will be useful to subjoin Torelli's very words, from Italian into Latin. In this year a vast miracle occurred, wrought by God through the merits of the glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino in the city of Fermo (as is clearly established from the Process of canonization of the said Saint), namely the prodigious resurrection of a certain girl. And the matter stands in this manner: When a certain girl named Philippina, daughter of Barachus of Fermo, was most grievously sick, her mother fervently commended her to St. Nicholas, and moreover made a certain vow to him: but behold, the fever growing sharply worse, on the next night the daughter died, with such grief and lamentation of the wretched mother as human tongue cannot sufficiently express.
[193] Nevertheless, not losing heart, she commended her again with great faith to the Saint: while she is being carried out for burial, and behold, while the afflicted lady, wearied with such lamentations, was resting on her bed, the Saint appeared to her, who, consoling her, said: Good lady, do not weep, for thy daughter is not dead, but alive. Then the lady gradually awoke, leaped from her bed, and hastened at once to the place where her daughter lay; but finding her dead as before, she renewed with great grief the lamentations she had broken off. But when afterwards the priests, among whom were five of our Friars, came thither to carry the funeral of the aforesaid daughter to the church, and when she saw it in fact already being carried out of the house, then indeed, as one out of her mind, driven into a frenzy, she uttered with a despairing and sacrilegious tongue: Ah, St. Nicholas, betrayer, thou hast deceived me; for this night thou saidst to me that my daughter was not dead but alive; and now behold, I see her carried out dead to the grave, nor is any hope left me of ever seeing her again.
[194] But while the despairing woman was blurting out these follies, she suddenly revived, and long survived. behold, the dead daughter, suddenly reviving, raised herself so as to sit up in the bier, and rebuking her mother said: Be silent, O my mother, for I am not dead, but alive. And presently, the bier being set down on the ground, the good Philippina returned to her own house together with her mother, now repentant, praising God and St. Nicholas. This young woman afterwards lived a long time, was married to a husband, and bore many children. So exactly it is read in the above-cited Process of the canonization of St. Nicholas, and the same things the authors of the first class of the Saint's Life report, although they do not determine the year in which so stupendous a miracle fell.
[195] Ambrose of Siena, or rather Scipio Jardinus, who translated into Latin the Life written by him in Italian, A boy drowned at Venice, sets forth in chap. 30 a memorable prodigy of a boy drowned at Venice, which from the same author, with superfluities cut away, I here recite. What, I ask, he says, can we utter or express in sacred praises concerning that signal miracle which shone forth at Murano near Venice, where phials and cups and other vessels of glass are blown, at the time of the canonization of that same St. Nicholas? For through eight continuous days in the convent of St. Stephen of the Hermits of St. Augustine, on account of this Saint's canonization performed at Rome, a famous and most sacred solemnity ever flourished… And behold, at that time a headlong fall into the greater canal of the waters at Murano, and beneath the rough and more violent heap of the waves, which there glides swiftly down in a rapid flow like a very swift river, swallowed up a certain little boy and wrapped him in those waters, and plunged him utterly into the lowest parts, and held him beneath the covering of the waters for the whole measure of an entire day; nor did he ever in any way appear to the fishermen, who sought for him within the waters, swimming up and down with unwearied vigilance.
[196] For which reason the pious mother, overflowing with tears for her drowned son, in the evening emerges unharmed: since the fame of the notable miracles which St. Nicholas of Tolentino was daily unfolding had reached her ears also through the talk of many, most humbly commended him to that glorious Confessor and virgin of God: and when evening came, upon the running waves of the waters … the boy emerged alive and wholly free from all injury, carried up before the eyes of all, and joyfully directed the point of his speech toward his mother, saying: O lady mother, through the whole course of this day's light I have been staying with a certain exceedingly beautiful Friar clothed in most shining black garments, who consoled me with holy allurements and with the most pleasant cheerfulness of his countenance. And the boy's mother therefore knew that by the help of St. Nicholas the boy had emerged, and had broken the bonds of death by miracles: wherefore to this present day those men of Murano are always borne with the most devout veneration toward that same holy Nicholas of Tolentino. The canonization of the Saint fell in the year 1446, and in the year following its Bull was issued; and therefore in one or the other of these years the said prodigy must have occurred.
[197] another, born by the Saint's patronage, Torelli, praised above, subjoins at num. 13 another no less wonderful, which he premises that he drew from the little work of Brother Anthony Dulciati of Florence — a man, as he says, no less conspicuous for sanctity than for learning — published at Florence in the year 1515; but in what year it occurred he does not declare. I subjoin a summary of the account, which is somewhat prolix. At Grenoble, a city of France and capital of the Dauphiné, a certain nobleman, pious, with a like wife, had long lived without any fruit of marriage, which tormented his mind not a little. Presently it happened that he spoke sadly on this matter with a certain Augustinian Religious; and he, being most devoted to St. Nicholas, urged him to implore his patronage by making some vow. The nobleman assented to his adviser, and by a sworn vow promised that, if he should beget male offspring, it should be named by the name of Nicholas, and that he would keep the Saint's feast day solemn, and on it would furnish a banquet to many poor in his house.
[198] afterwards falls into a boiling cauldron and is cooked The Saint heard the vow; for not long after the matron conceived, and, the months of the womb being fulfilled, brought forth a son into the light, who was called Nicholas at the sacred font. And the boy had now completed two years when an unlooked-for mishap interrupted for a while the joy of his parents. On the feast day of St. Nicholas, which the religious parents were accustomed to pass every year according to their vow with sacred offices, a banquet of friends, and a pious meal for the poor, while they themselves were present at the divine service, the boy, wandering unobserved through the kitchen, fell into a boiling cauldron. Meanwhile the parents had returned home, and were seeking their dearest pledge in vain, until at last the cook, while trying to take the meat out of the aforesaid cauldron, drew out the boy, wretchedly cooked. Hereupon the mother, driven to despair, would have thrown herself headlong from the window, had not the bystanders prevented her: but the father, being more master of himself, withdrew into a chamber, and there, falling upon his knees before a sacred icon of St. Nicholas, with a vast shower of tears earnestly implored the aid of his Patron.
[199] wonderfully comes to life again. Meanwhile it is announced that a certain Augustinian Father is at hand who was asking to speak with him: he, being brought in, bids all be of good courage, and, fitting each limb to its own place, lays the boy's mutilated little body upon a table; then, having prayed to God for some time with the whole household,
he rises and calls the dead child back to life in the name of God. Without delay the boy revived whole and sound; and the Father himself, suddenly disappearing, filled the whole household with unlooked-for joy. Thus Torelli, but in a more prolix style, as I have noted; who then reports another also from the same Anthony Dulciati, which he says was done in his own time, that is in the XV century or the beginning of the XVI, in the town of Emporium (in Italian Empoli), situated on the river Arno between Florence and Pisa in Tuscany, of which I likewise subjoin a summary.
[200] Famine raging through Tuscany, a certain widow in the flower of her age but poor, To the mother of three sons, one of whom had already died, dwelling at Empoli, could not feed the three little sons whom she had: and when a certain wealthy man learned this, he offered her the necessary support, provided she would comply with his impure love; but she, detesting the crime, replied that she would rather die than commit that wickedness. Meanwhile one of the little ones dies; nor could she hope better of the rest. Afflicted with these cares she turned to St. Nicholas, and, bathed in tears before his image, prayed him to succor her in so great a need, and not to suffer her through want to fall into sin. While the woman was praying thus, she heard the door struck, and, suspecting that it might be that impure suitor, she hesitated a little, uncertain what to do; then, having implored the Saint's aid and laid his icon upon her breast, she hastens to the door.
[201] The door being unbarred, she meets an Augustinian Religious, laboring under the utmost want, he gives a sack with bread, who addressed her thus: I know, daughter, the great want under which thou labourest together with thy sons, and therefore I have brought thee some relief: and presently he gave her a little sack full of bread, saying: Take this little sack, and refresh thyself with thy sons with the bread it contains, and fear not: for the blessed God will suffer nothing to be lacking to thee. When this was said, the woman, rejoicing, set down the sack that had been offered behind the door; but when afterwards she turned to give thanks to her benefactor and found no one, she recognized that this had been St. Nicholas himself, whose aid she had implored. She goes in therefore, and sets about driving away her own hunger and her children's with the gift that had been offered.
[202] After these things, by a divine instinct, as is believed, she put something of the same bread to the mouth of the little one who had died; at whose touch the boy revived, and he gives money. and when this was done, the boy presently revived and was satisfied with the rest. To these prodigies another benefit also was added: for when she had little by little consumed the remainder of the bread, she found as much money in the bottom of the sack as she had need of to sustain her family for the whole time during which the famine continued to rage. This prodigy is indeed signal and memorable, and therefore I note a few things toward giving credit to it. Joseph Pamphilus in his Chronicles, at the year 1511, makes mention with praise of Anthony Dulciati, from whom we have it. Anthony Dulciati of Florence, he says, a man of the keenest talent, wrote a most celebrated Work entitled The Computation of the sun and moon, with that reckoning of astronomy which pertains to clerics, which … is preserved in manuscript at Rome in the archive of the Order. Secondly, he published at Florence in the year 1515 a Life of St. Nicholas, in which, on Torelli's testimony, he reports the said miracle: it is not therefore to be believed that a learned and pious man would have dared to invent so great a prodigy as done in his own time at Empoli, that is, not far from Florence, and to pass it off as true; since otherwise he could without difficulty have been convicted of falsehood and imposture.
§ XV. Others dead, or accounted as dead, restored to health: likewise others hanged, preserved in life.
[ ] A boy fallen from a horse, James Albericius, in chap. 6 of the Life, records besides various persons who, whether truly dead or accounted as dead, were suddenly restored to their former health. Many of these we have already reviewed from Peter of Monte Rubiano; some, as belonging to another class, we shall record in another place; the rest we subjoin in his words, from Italian into Latin. The boy Ansovinus, son of Ansovinus of Camerino, crushed by the hoofs of a running horse and so trampled that in his head the marks of the shoes and nails appeared, and his inward parts were shattered, had lost speech and sensation and seemed dead. A vow having been made by his mother to St. Nicholas, he suddenly regained his strength and was most beautifully healed.
[204] a Religious, an iron plate having fallen upon his brain, When Brother Peter of San Ginesio (it is a little town of the March of Ancona), of the Order of the Continent, was standing leaning against a certain wall, a large iron plate fell upon his head, and, struck by it, he died and was carried to the church of St. Francis for burial. A certain lady named Gregoria made a vow for him to St. Nicholas, promising that she would offer at his tomb a waxen image of the size of the said Brother. The vow being made, at once his breath, his speech, and his health were restored to him.
[205] a boy from disease — those accounted dead are healed. Salimbenus, son of James of San Severino (San Severino, in Italian San-Severino, is a city of the same March), three years old, being unexpectedly seized with pains of the heart and stomach, began to wail much and for the space of a great hour to vomit blood, and at last was so deprived of speech and breath that he appeared dead, and grew cold, and was accounted dead by all who saw him; and so he lay as dead from the first evening until the accustomed hour of retiring to bed. But his father vowed him to St. Nicholas, and promised that he would carry the boy to his tomb and there offer a waxen image. The vow being made, the boy suddenly spoke and was healed.
[206] One born dead, and others The son of a certain Complitus of Tolentino was born dead, and for the space of one hour was accounted dead by all. Him the father commended to St. Nicholas; and without delay the boy presently recovered his breath. Ceccus, son of Matthew of Trajana (in the speech of the inhabitants Montecchio, a castle of the March of Ancona), having been most grievously sick for eight days, lay dead from the first sleep until the hour of Mass. His father vowed to St. Nicholas that he would carry him to his tomb, and there strip him of his garments, and together with these offer a waxen image and a candle equal in length to the boy. The vow being made, he suddenly breathed again, spoke, and was healed.
[207] called back to life. Joannutius, son of Rosa of Matelica (Matelica is a town of the March of Ancona in Italy), being grievously sick, had been brought to such weakness that those who saw him called him dead. For his safety his parents vowed a waxen image; and presently after the vow, his strength being regained, he recovered without any help of physicians. A certain daughter of a certain nobleman of the city of Fermo (in the same March of Ancona), about twelve years of age, had died: her mother vowed her to St. Nicholas, promising to visit his tomb and there to offer her daughter's garments and hair: the vow being made, she recovered.
[208] [ ], the son of Clarundina of San Severino, as soon as he was baptized, Blanca, duchess of Milan, fell so sick that he seemed dead, and was accounted such from the third hour until sunset. But when his mother had vowed to St. Nicholas that, if her son revived, she would encircle his tomb with wax candles, the boy recovered sensation and began to suck the breast, and survived eight months. Thus Albericius: what I add is drawn from Ambrose of Siena in Jardinus, chap. 30, where I read this: A lady of the very vast city of Milan, by name Blanca, namely the wife of the duke of that city, when at one time in giving birth she had brought forth a dead infant, motionless and utterly still, no otherwise than if she had put forth a rough little piece of shapeless flesh — for the creature was not stirred by any motion, but lay wholly as dead and immovable flesh.
[209] Nevertheless, because that lady had a wonderful devotion toward St. Nicholas of Tolentino, on account of the miracle wrought upon her offspring, therefore she straightway vowed with a pious promise that she would raise with all solemnity at Milan an altar and chapel in honor and under the title of St. Nicholas within the church of the Incoronata, and would forthwith send a golden chalice (Zacconius has "silver") to the land of Tolentino for the church of St. Nicholas: and scarcely had the lady completed her vow with her voice, when the newborn infant began to wail with a sweet cry, and by a childlike motion showed, to the utmost gladness of all, that it was now drawing the breath of life; whence also at once, all delay being cast off, the lady Blanca fulfilled the vow of her pious promise, and obtained from the Roman Pontiff a jubilee, to last for many years, for all persons of either sex who should visit with faithful approach that chapel of the divine Nicholas. The same has Zacconius, part 1, chap. 129, and San-Martin in the French Life of the Saint, num. 58, although they differ somewhat in the circumstances.
[210] San-Martin writes that the said Blanca was the wife of Francis Sforza, builds a chapel to the Saint at Milan, and enriches it with indulgences first duke of Milan of that name, whom John Simoneta, in book 5 of the History of the said duke, in Muratori tom. 21 of the Rerum Italicarum, writes was married to him in the year 1441, and whom Christopher a Soldo, in the History of Brescia in the praised Muratori, col. 914, notes as having died on the XIX day of October in the year 1468. Torelli, at the year 1460, num. 23, treats of the said chapel or church of St. Nicholas, and says that it was joined by the praised duchess to the church of St. Mary Coronata, which belongs to the Augustinian Fathers, in such a manner that, although each church is distinguished by its own frontispiece, yet within there is but one; and hence it is understood why the chapel of St. Nicholas is said by some to have been built within the church of St. Mary Coronata, by others beside it. The same Annalist, from the records of that monastery, recites in the same place the following to our purpose: The most illustrious lord Francis Sforza, duke of Milan, laid out a great quantity of money on the building of the monastery. The most illustrious lady Blanca Maria, his wife, also laid out a great quantity of money on the building of the monastery; who besides built the church of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, at whose altar we are bound to celebrate daily.
[211] obtained from the supreme Pontiff. Herrera in the Alphabetum Augustinianum likewise mentions this church, and says that there above the door of the same monastery or church this is read: This church the most illustrious lady Blanca Maria, duchess of Milan, caused to be built in honor of Bl. Nicholas of Tolentino, for which she obtained from the most holy Pope Pius II a plenary (read: a plenary indulgence) of sins, in the year of its dedication, and of seven quadragenes on the feast of St. Nicholas in perpetuity, MCCCCLX, the X of September. The same inscription, but somewhat differently and mutilated, stands in San-Martin in this manner: This church the most illustrious Blanca Maria, duchess of Milan, countess of Pavia and Angera, and lady of Cremona, caused to be built in honor of St. Nicholas of Tolentino &c. In the year MCCCCLX, the VII day of September. Which of them reports the more correctly, let the Milanese judge. Further, although Torelli, and Herrera citing Gaspar Ambigatus, book 6 of the History of Milan, also assert that that church was built in the year 1460 by the said duchess, yet neither of them, concerning the miracle of her offspring raised to life,
makes mention; nay rather the latter conjectures that it was erected by her at the urging perhaps of Gabriel Sforza the Augustinian, her husband's brother. Let the credit therefore rest with Ambrose of Siena, who does not tell us whence he learned that prodigy.
[212] A boy about to be carried out for burial revives. Receive another also reported by the same Ambrose in Jardinus. Near the city of Feltre (Feltria is a city in the March of Treviso), in a place distant from it only by the space of a scant mile and adjoining it, it happened that the son of a certain inhabitant of that region so violently sweated out the most difficult agonies of death that all at last judged him dead, and therefore the priests had already set out on their way to his house, to commit him to burial. But meanwhile his mother with the trusting affection of her whole heart commended him to the divine Nicholas; and forthwith by the help of St. Nicholas it appeared that the boy had only fallen asleep: wherefore, with immortal thanksgiving added, they at once carried him to the altar of St. Nicholas, and there and then with glad veneration clothed him in the habit of that same divine Nicholas.
[213] A chamberlain of the king of Cyprus, of the theft of a ring More wonderful is what is related in the same chapter concerning a certain servant of the king of Cyprus, in these words: I should judge it right, he says, to recall to memory — and let us never, I pray, allow to be buried in oblivion — that lofty miracle of the divine Nicholas which that sublime Confessor of the most high God unfolded toward the chamberlain of king Sacchus, who held the kingdom of the most delightful island of Cyprus … and which shone forth in these our own times. For on a certain day the king after dinner, in order that he might the more conveniently wash his hands, laid the royal ring within the top of a silver vessel gilded all over, into which the water descended from a golden ewer upon the royal hands. But the servant had not at all noticed the laying down of the ring; and for this reason he unwittingly threw the ring out upon the ground together with the water of the washing. But the king, after the course of an hour, demands the ring back from the servant; and he affirmed, no less reverently than most truly, that he knew nothing whatever of the royal ring.
[214] is falsely accused and hanged. Whereupon the king, carried away in the fire of a furious anger …, ordered his royal servant to be hanged forthwith at that very hour: to whom, according to pious and Catholic custom, was given as confessor Brother William of the Order of Hermits, and he was the king's confessor; who, having heard the royal chamberlain's innocence, piously advised him that he should trustfully commend himself wholly to the divine Nicholas of Tolentino with a singular devotion. Which the royal servant did with willing mind, humbly obeying his confessor's counsels; and he was thereafter led out to the gibbet for execution; for the king's command, irrevocably pronounced, pressed on, and therefore he was hanged by a most savage executioner as the thief of the royal ring. But when evening came, the lost royal ring appeared shining on the ground in the dining hall, and was offered to the king by the finder.
[215] On which account the king began to be violently tormented with anguish of mind by the Saint's help he is taken down alive: and to be wonderfully consumed with inward grief of heart, and suddenly ordered the servant hanged that morning to be taken down at once with all speed from the gibbet: who by a miracle of St. Nicholas was found alive; and being asked by the king how he had drawn the breath of life and had not gone within the prison of death, the servant answered the king reverently with mild kindness that by the ineffable help of the divine Nicholas of Tolentino he had not only escaped the inmost recesses of death, but had not even touched its first and outermost porches. And therefore on every Wednesday the custom prevailed there that the whole Cypriot people should flock in adoration before the altar of St. Nicholas in the church of the divine Augustine; inasmuch as this signal miracle shone forth (as we have recorded) within the passing hours of a Wednesday. Thus Jardinus from Ambrose; from whom Ludovicus Zacconius has the same, and after them San-Martin in the French Life; upon which a few things are to be observed.
[216] Among the kings of Cyprus who, after the island was taken by Richard king of England in the year 1191, held its kingdom from Guy of Lusignan until the year 1487 or 1488, when it came under Venetian jurisdiction, no Sacchus occurs. Zacconius, however, calls him in Italian Sacho, San-Martin in French Sache. But from the time at which the said prodigy is said to have been wrought, we gather sufficiently whom they mean to indicate by the name of Sacchus. For that king is said to have flourished in the writer's own times: now Ambrose of Siena, on Herrera's testimony in the Alphabetum, presided over the monastery of Siena in the year 1478, and over the whole province in the year 1483, and published the Life of which we treat at Venice in the year 1511, as Torelli also writes: for what Jardinus says, that it was published in the year 1424, is certainly false, since in it very many things much more recent than that year are narrated.
[217] Now the kings of Cyprus with whom Ambrose could have been contemporary is inquired into. are John II, John III, queen Charlotte, who was driven from the kingdom, James the bastard, and James the boy, who died an infant. One of these, therefore, they addressed by the name of Sacchus; and that was more probably James the bastard, whose Italian name Giaccomo, or, as it is written by Francis Sansovino in the Description of the city of Venice and in the Venetian Chronicle, Giacco, could more easily than the rest be changed into Sacchus. Now that James was the bastard son of John III king of Cyprus, and he, having driven out Charlotte the lawful heiress and gained the kingdom, took to wife Catharine, daughter of Mark Cornelius or Cornaro, a Venetian senator, who, when her husband and the posthumous child she had borne by him were dead, transferred the kingdom of Cyprus to the Venetians in the year 1487, on Sansovino's testimony in the Chronicle. For the rest, since Ambrose of Siena asserts that the said miracle happened in his own times, we cannot absolutely reject it as false, however much it savors of I know not what fable.
[218] Another, hanged, is found alive as he is taken down, Ambrose Frigerius, or he who enlarged his little work, James Albericius, narrates in chap. 6 of the Life a miracle like this one, which Torelli mentions at the year 1319, num. 5, and again at the year 1507, num. 28, in which he determines that it happened, from the Registers of the Order compiled by the Reverend Father Giles of Viterbo, then Prior General of the whole Order and afterwards Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. Receive Albericius's words rendered into Latin. Peter Anthony of Bologna (in Romagna, of the dominion of the supreme Pontiff), seized by the court and after many tortures condemned to death, when he was being led to punishment, turned to the glorious merits and help of Bl. Nicholas, and, praying him to free him from so ignominious a death, vowed that, taking his sacred habit, he would thereafter serve him in holiness of life. When he had come to the place of punishment, and had ascended the ladder, the executioner hanged him and pressed upon his feet with his shoulders, that he might kill him the sooner. The unhappy man hung until the XXII hour, at which, while the officers were taking him down for burial, they found him alive.
[219] he enters the Religion at Bologna; To this stupendous prodigy almost the whole city ran together; and he, being asked by the chief men how it was that he was still alive, answered: I called upon St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and he came at once to my aid; and while I hung, the glorious Saint so upheld me with his hands that I seemed to myself to be sweetly sleeping, not suffering. The miracle being made known, he put on the habit of the Hermits of St. Augustine in the cathedral church, and, being clothed by the reverend Prior Master John de Ripa, in memory of the benefit received from Bl. Nicholas he was called Brother Nicholas. While, thus clothed and encircled by a suppliant procession of the Hermit Brethren of the monastery of St. James of Bologna, and with a very great throng of the people, he was passing beneath the vault of the magistrates' palace, where is seen the chapel called of St. Mary of the People, Brother Nicholas fell upon his knees there before the said image to pray; and behold, out of the countless people who were present, certain, led by devotion because of the miracle wrought, came up to him and tore his black garment into a thousand pieces, as though it had been a holy thing: wherefore he, thus despoiled, came into the monastery of the said Brethren of St. James, and there rendered due thanks to God and to the glorious St. Nicholas, and was clothed with another garment.
[220] but returning to his own nature, he is expelled from it. Torelli, who reports the same from Frigerius and from the Registers compiled by Giles of Viterbo, as I have noted, says that the said Peter had been condemned for a theft of which he was in fact guilty and convicted. And to confirm the truth of the prodigy, besides the testimony of Frigerius and Giles, he cites a tablet hung on the wall of the old chapel of St. Nicholas at Bologna, which exhibits it painted at the very time at which it happened. For the rest, the devotion of the people of Bologna in tearing up Peter Anthony's garments and holding them as a sacred thing was no less foolish than over-hasty; for he, on the testimony of the same Giles of Viterbo in Torelli at the year 1507, num. 28, returned to his own nature, so that it was necessary to expel him from the sacred Order of the Hermits.
[221] Two hanged for three days Before I make an end of this paragraph, I add another also reported in the same Albericius. Two men of Foligno, he says (Foligno is a city of Umbria in the dominion of the Church), were accused before the praetor of the city of the theft of two oxen, and therefore were seized by his order and tortured with many torments; and when they nonetheless denied the deed, at his command they were again so violently tortured that at last they were compelled to confess what was false, namely that they were guilty of that theft, though they were entirely innocent: but excessive tortures had so compelled them. The crime being acknowledged, they were condemned to hanging: but while they were being led to punishment, they called the glorious St. Nicholas to their aid, saying: O St. Nicholas of Tolentino, we pray thee, by the love with which thou didst embrace Jesus Christ, that as we are guiltless of the crime laid upon us, so thou wouldst help us. Brought to the place of punishment, they said again as they mounted the ladders: O St. Nicholas, help us. The innocent men are hanged, and remained hanging for three days.
[222] On the third day a certain horseman passed that way, and, hearing the noise of his horse, they began to cry out: by the Saint's help escape unharmed. O dear horseman, have pity on us. But he halted, and, thinking that some malignant spirit had taken possession of those corpses to defile them, answered: By the power of God I command you, that if you are good spirits you make it known to me; but if evil, in the power of the Holy Spirit I command you to depart thence and to remove into places deserted by men. To this the hanged men said: We are not spirits, but rational souls joined to our own bodies: being hanged, we called upon St. Nicholas of Tolentino, that as we were guiltless of the crime falsely laid upon us, so he might help us; and behold, while we hung, the glorious St. Nicholas was at hand and put his hands beneath our feet, lest we should suffer unjustly. Hearing this, the horseman cut the ropes of both with his sword; and they, unharmed, made their way to the sepulchre of St. Nicholas, and there hung up their nooses: which miracle being spread abroad through the whole region, praises were rendered to God. Thus far there, from the Compendium of miracles preserved at Tolentino, as is prefixed to that chapter.
§ XVI. Certain persons delivered from the plague in Italy, Spain, and Languedoc.
[ ] Fr. Paul of Trent, while he was a boy, The most powerful patronage of St. Nicholas and his present help various persons infected with the plague likewise experienced, of whose number we review some in this paragraph. First of all Ambrose of Siena in Jardinus, chap. 30, relates the following upon this subject: The reverend master of sacred Theology Paul, whose birth and origin came from the city of Trent, testified before me, in the inviolate truth of his sacred conscience, that when he was a boy of about seven years of age he sweated out two days grievously sick in the agony of death, and that indeed on account of the pestilence, which had swollen in both his hips; so that, hemmed about with deadly perils, he held in his hands a lighted candle according to the rite of the holy Roman Church, as one about to pass at the moment of that instant hour from this world into another.
[224] And then, when no further hope of his life remained, infected with the plague, by the Saint appearing to him his mother Juliana, who was borne, as was her custom, with a trusting devotion toward the divine Nicholas of Tolentino, had most humbly commended him to St. Nicholas; and after the course of two days St. Nicholas had appeared to him, speaking in these words: O son, dost thou know me? And he answered [*] in the affirmative: Assuredly I know thee. Whereupon St. Nicholas spoke again, saying: Who then am I? And the boy said: Thou art that Hermit Brother who keeps vigil above the altar of St. Mark. For the convent of St. Augustine in the city of Trent is designated under the name of the divine Mark, and moreover there is seen, raised above the altar of that famous church, an image of St. Nicholas carved in wood, its outer garments fashioned of black color; and therefore that master Paul, at that time a boy, being led by his tender age, supposed him to be a certain Hermit Brother then enjoying this mortal life, who day and night kept watch in the church of St. Mark above that altar; and since he had appeared to him, a boy, under that same form in which his holy image shone carved and fashioned, therefore the little boy uttered toward St. Nicholas those words which I have recorded.
[225] is suddenly healed, But St. Nicholas, in this divinely woven web of the discourse begun, deigned at length to speak toward him in answering reply: Assuredly I am that Hermit Brother of whom thou speakest. Come therefore to see me in my church, since henceforth thou shalt be shaken by no further power of sickness, nor shalt thou be tormented thereafter by the pestilence. And having said such things, shining with radiant splendors, holy Nicholas himself vanished forthwith from the boy's eyes; and the boy, immediately gaining the power of speech, called his mother Juliana with the clearness of his own voice, and addressed her manfully with effectual power in these words: Behold, mother, I have obtained health, since that Hermit Brother who lives in the church of St. Mark above the altar has signified to me by his word that I shall be entirely free of the disease. And his mother Juliana understood that St. Nicholas had appeared to the boy, and that meanwhile the plague had suddenly departed, and, its withdrawal being completed, had vanished.
[226] and afterwards embraces his Order. For which reason the boy at once, having gained the strength of health, rose from his bed and betook himself into the church of St. Mark to St. Nicholas; and nevertheless, after the flowing courses of some passing time, within that same monastery he took by the divine kindness the habit of the Hermit Religion; which was about the year MCDLXVI. The same have Frigerius or Albericius, and Zacconius; but into the latter an error has crept, when that prodigious healing is said to have befallen Paul, then a boy, in the year of Christ 1474, and the same man to have embraced the Order of the Hermits in the year 1466. Frigerius writes that the same Paul took the habit of the Hermits a few months after the miracle: which I think is to be understood not of entrance into the Order (for he was then a boy of only seven or eight years) but of the wearing of the sacred habit, in which boys used to be clothed in memory of St. Nicholas; unless for "months" we should read "years." Zacconius asserts that the same man discharged the office of preacher at Venice with great praise in the year 1496.
[227] By his help the city of Pisa Bernard Navarro, in book 2 of the Spanish Life, chap. 15, records that Pisa in Tuscany was delivered from a dreadful plague through the patronage of the same Saint. When the city of Pisa, he says, was violently afflicted with plague, and the greater part of the inhabitants had already perished, it commended itself to St. Nicholas, and presently that evil ceased. For which reason the people vowed to celebrate his festivity with great solemnity, and ordered the miracle which God had wrought through his Saint to be painted on a panel, in which the Saint is shown intent upon prayer and catching in his garments many darts that had been hurled.
[228] Zacconius, in part 1 of the Life, chap. 128, narrates these things somewhat more fully. is said to have been delivered from plague: First of all he thinks they should be referred to the year 1495 or 1527, in each of which years he writes that the Pisans were afflicted with pestilence. Then he asserts that St. Nicholas was seen by certain pious inhabitants standing above the city and catching in the folds of his garments the darts and thunderbolts sent against it from heaven; and that, when this most auspicious sign of the plague's coming end had been reported to the senate and people, others also merited to become eyewitnesses of this most welcome spectacle. Finally he says that that image was caused to be made by the pious confraternity of St. Nicholas, established there long before under his invocation, and that it holds a book in the right hand, and in the left three darts or thunderbolts, in memory of the plague driven away. Which of them is the more correct I do not know: but Zacconius, being nearer to the place, could learn the more certain facts. It displeases me, however, that the year of so memorable a prodigy (if it truly happened) is entirely passed over by the one, and not determined with certainty by the other.
[229] Concha, in the speech of the inhabitants Cuenca, is a city of Spain in New Castile, elsewhere it was prevented from creeping further. episcopal under the metropolitan see of Toledo. That in this diocese a like contagious disease was prevented from creeping further, the praised Navarro relates in the words which I subjoin, but in the Spanish tongue. In the year MDLX in a certain place of Castile called Balverde, of the diocese of Cuenca, so grave a pestilence raged that a great number of the people were carried off. And when the neighbors cast lots to take counsel which of the Saints would help them in so great a calamity, St. Nicholas of Tolentino was drawn out, and through his patronage God preserved them safe; and as a memorial of this benefit the inhabitants raised a chapel in honor of the most holy Virgin Mother of God and of the glorious St. Nicholas.
[230] The convent of the Augustinian Fathers at Toulouse in Languedoc also experienced the Saint's most powerful protection in a like evil, At Toulouse in Languedoc a certain man infected with plague, on the testimony of Simplician San-Martin, a Religious of the same Order and royal professor there. He, in the French Life, having said that many Religious of the said convent in the years 1628, 1629, 1630, and 1631, in which the plague raged fiercely at Toulouse, were by the help of St. Nicholas partly preserved untouched by it and partly healed, continues thus in French: And what might be reckoned among the miracles of the blessed bread of St. Nicholas: one of them, who still lives surviving in that convent, on the IV day of October in the year MDCXXXI had been seized with two carbuncles, one on the right temple of his head, the other in his throat, and at the same time the plague had shown itself near the ear on the same side. These carbuncles had in a short time so spread that within three days the sick man could no longer be recognized, his face being disfigured, and his head, full of burnings and swollen like a pitcher from the venom, struck horror and drew tears from those who visited him, who judged that he could not be healed save by a remedy surpassing the powers of nature.
[231] Nor did the sick man himself judge otherwise, who, having made a general confession of his offenses by the use of the blessed bread and being now prepared to receive death if it should so seem good to God, by no means forgot to call upon St. Nicholas at the perilous turning point of affairs, trusting that he would now be no less favorable to him than he had been at another time, when, having taken bread blessed under the invocation of his name, he had recovered from fevers. And so, having vowed to eat on five Wednesdays in his honor nothing but bread and water, and to fast on the remaining Wednesdays of the whole year, he applied three of these small loaves, after the manner of poultices, to the deadly swellings, that he might overcome their obstinacy in preventing the discharge of the abscesses by which he was being suffocated.
[232] is happily healed: But because he hoped, he was not disappointed: for when after this he had lain down and, encouraged by the hope of recovering health, had lightly fallen asleep, he was compelled to raise himself in order to admit the effect of the remedy; and that with such success that, a great quantity of matter being three times discharged from mouth and nostrils, the venom flowed away; the burnings by which the sick man was being consumed were exhaled through that vent; and he from that time felt his heart strengthened by poultices of this kind, which drove away all fear of death and filled him, amid the long and troublesome treatments of surgery, with joy and delight. These things the said Religious declared to us at that time, both that he might obtain the faculty of fulfilling his vow, and that by this his testimony he might make the truth public and testify that through the patronage of St. Nicholas he had happily come through that peril in which very many of his fellows had perished. The same he afterwards confirmed again.
[233] vows made there for this and other benefits. This convent therefore, being favored by God at so calamitous a time with many benefits through the Saint's merits, offered him by vow a splendid silver lamp, which is seen hanging before his altar; and it vowed besides that on the IX day of September, which immediately precedes the Saint's festivity, it would fast perpetually, and would celebrate every year two solemn Masses, one on the V day of June, on which the canonization falls, the other on the X day of September, on which his birthday in heaven is commemorated, at the same altar after the blessing of the bread; and that at that Mass all the Religious of the same convent who are not priests should be refreshed with the most holy banquet of the Body of the Lord.
Annotata* respondit
§ XVII. The plague raging at Cordova in Spain, a boy seized by it is miraculously healed.
[ ] At Cordova in Spain Yet before all other cities which have rejoiced in the patronage of St. Nicholas against the plague, Cordova is to be recorded, a city of Spain in Vandalitia, and formerly the royal seat and capital of the kingdom of the same name, which, being infected in the years 1601 and 1602 with a dreadful pestilence, was made as it were a most ample theatre of the miracles of our Thaumaturge. There dwelt then in that city Fr. Christopher de Busto, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, who collected the miracles there divinely bestowed at that time and published them in the Spanish tongue. He confesses, however, that it was by no means his purpose to narrate them all; since there was scarcely a house, he says, which did not experience some help of the Saint: and therefore he reported only those which either were lawfully approved as indubitable miracles, or at least rested upon the more certain assertion of witnesses: yet these are of such number that to set them forth in various paragraphs
we are compelled; and although some occur which do not pertain to the plague driven away, yet since they happened in the same years, we shall recite them along with the rest.
[235] The said little work of Christopher is extant in Spanish in Bernard Navarro, the plague raging in the years 1601 and 1602 as I have already noted elsewhere, and from it we shall here give it in Latin, cutting away, however, here and there what does not make to our purpose and what would render the narrative more prolix than is fair. For the rest, the reader will pardon me, I hope, if by adhering more closely to the author's phrases I use a less elegant style; for let him know that this has been done for the sole reason that I might not seem to have departed a nail's breadth from the writer's meaning. Before we approach the matter itself, it will be useful to have recited some things from the author's prologue toward giving it credit. He begins thus: Although the Majesty of God our Lord manifests his infinite power in various ways, yet we behold its effects chiefly in the mercy which he uses toward sinners; and by many instances we have found that he wills to be entreated by his Saints, that through their patronage he may impart grace to souls as well as health to bodies.
[236] We have seen it with our eyes and handled it with our hands in the city of Cordova, many miracles occurred. which, having been so greatly chastised by the powerful hand of God in the year MDCI with the plague that was common to the whole kingdom, he, willing to temper that punishment, showed her what she had in that one Saint, and that he was to be taken as Patron for obtaining a remedy of so cruel an evil. Then, after saying among other things that there was scarcely a house at Cordova that had no experience of some benefit, he adds: I seem to have put together a certain brief compendium of some of the many and great miracles and of the rare and memorable cases which God our Lord has wrought in this city through the patronage of this glorious Saint: and in the course of it I shall review the sentences which were pronounced upon them, to give greater credit to the said miracles and to the singular cases which occurred through the notable cult of this Saint. Now let us set forth the miracles themselves.
[237] The feast day and Octave of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino having been celebrated in the Cordovan convent of our holy father Augustine A boy seized by the plague, in the month of September in the year MDCI, and many miracles which this glorious Saint wrought, on the testimony of Eugenius IV in the Bull of canonization, and very many others which he works daily, having been set forth in a sermon, it happened that a certain boy of three years, on the fourth day after the said Octave, on the very feast day of the glorious apostle St. Matthew, at the fourth hour after noon, standing sound and unharmed at Cordova in the courtyard of St. Augustine, was seized by a pestilential carbuncle, a swelling arising in his right groin which equaled the size of an egg and was hard as a stone and livid in color. Hereupon the boy, stirred by pain, with a dying countenance and other foul signs, raised loud wailings, from which the bystanders gathered that he had been seized by a pestilential pustule.
[238] But his mother, no longer able to look upon her son in that state, after a vow made by his mother to the Saint, having removed his clothes, discovered the aforesaid carbuncle; and being thereupon most grievously afflicted, she called with loud cries upon the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, to whom she was most devoted, beseeching him to deliver her from such great sorrows. Groaning in this manner, she took her son in her arms, and, fearing and taking care lest others should on that account shun her and her house, she hurried into the house of a certain neighbor of hers; where, having begun again to uncover the boy and to look for the carbuncle, when she saw it once more, she began to lament more violently and to implore the Saint. Then the neighbor said: In the week just past I did not cease to call upon the glorious St. Nicholas, that he would heal my daughter, who was grievously sick, and I promised him one Mass; and when this was done, she was presently healed. Hearing this, the boy's mother with great devotion and tears promised to fast until she should have had a Mass said in the glorious Saint's honor for her son's safety.
[239] he is suddenly healed. These things she promised the Saint with such faith, devotion, and tears that at that very moment the said boy grew quiet and fell peacefully asleep in her lap, who from his great distress ought to have wept without any power of resting. And when the mother beheld her son calmed by so sudden a rest, she inspected again that part of the body which the deadly carbuncle had occupied, and found it without swelling, sound and whole and without any trace of the evil with which it had been distended; and therefore she rendered the highest thanks to our Lord and to the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, who had wrought so unwonted a miracle. Further, the aforesaid mother, to fulfil her promises, on the next day at earliest dawn came with the boy to the church of St. Augustine and asked that the Mass which she had vowed should be said. The Father sacristan, having learned of the prodigy, asked the same boy who that Saint was by whom he had been healed. And he, although he was only three years old, and although his mother often swore that the Saint's name had been made known to him neither by herself nor by anyone else, turned toward the altar of St. Nicholas, on which his statue was seen, and, pointing his finger at it, replied: This Saint healed me.
[240] This healing, examined duly by the vicar of the bishopric Now when God, at the patronage of the glorious St. Nicholas, had wrought so great a prodigy, the Cordovan convent of our holy father Augustine reported the matter to Ferdinand Mohedano de Saavedra, canon of the holy church of Cordova and, the see being vacant, vicar general of the same and of that bishopric, asking that he would order an inquiry to be made into the truth of the said miracle. He, granting the request, instituted an examination of it in secret, and with the other solemnities customarily employed in causes of this kind; and he himself examined the witnesses and the physicians, who testified that it could not have happened naturally. That proof being accepted, the vicar decreed and summoned an assembly.
[241] and by others, To this, on Monday the XII of October in the year MDCI, there came together in the chapter house of the greater church the lords Capitular and the superiors of the four Mendicant Orders: namely the lord Frederick Fernández de Córdoba, dean; doctor D. Alphonsus de Miranda, cantor; D. Gonsalvo Flores de Carvajal, archdeacon of Castro; the lord Francis de Vera y Aragón, archdeacon of Los Pedroches; D. Peter López de Angulo, Prior; D. Christopher de Mesa Cortés, canon; D. James López de Fromesta, canon; D. Alphonsus de Cañaveral, canon; D. Ludovicus de Góngora, prebendary; the Father Master Fr. John de Angulo, Prior of the convent of St. Paul of Cordova, of the Order of the glorious father St. Dominic; Fr. Martin de Celis, guardian of the convent of the glorious father St. Francis; the Father master Brother Balthasar de Molina, definitor of the Order of our Father St. Augustine; Fr. James Ruiz of the college of the Society of Jesus; Fr. Alphonsus de Salinas, of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, lector of Theology; the Father Presentate Fr. John Emmanuel de Henestrosa, lector of Prime of the convent of St. Paul of Cordova.
[242] All these being present and assembled in the aforesaid chapter together with the vicar, it is declared to have been a true miracle, the said process and its acts were read out, and, these being recited, each gave his vote, and after the votes were heard each subjoined his opinion, judgment, and counsel. The said Vicar said that the aforesaid miracle ought to be declared, to the greater honor and glory of God and our Lord and of blessed Nicholas of Tolentino, and to the greater confirmation of our holy Catholic faith and the increase of the devotion of the faithful; and he declared that he judged the said prodigy, wrought at the patronage of the glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino, to be a true and authentic miracle, and that he held, esteemed, and reverenced it as such both now and hereafter; and therefore that he testified to it and gave leave to publish it in a sermon, that knowledge of it might reach all the faithful of Christ.
[243] The sentence being pronounced, the lord dean and chapter ordered the bell of the greater church, and it is announced by the sound of all the bells; and likewise all the rest of the whole city, both of the parishes and of the monasteries, hermitages, and hospitals, to be rung in thanksgiving. Which thing filled the city with no small joy; for when, afflicted with so cruel a disease, it learned the cause of the rejoicing, and the report of the miracle was spread from house to house, while these things were being done (it was then about the hour of prayer) there was such exultation in it, of men as well as of women and children, that all sprang out of their seats to inquire into the miracle. And when they learned that a boy had been miraculously delivered from the plague, presently all ran to the glorious Saint (that is, to the statue of St. Nicholas), which stood in the greater chapel of our convent of father St. Augustine, shining so beautifully that it filled all with great consolation. Meanwhile the Fathers of the convent were coming forth to sing in thanksgiving that joyful hymn, Te Deum laudamus.
[244] So great was the concourse of the people who that night visited the glorious Saint and thanks are publicly rendered. that at the twelfth hour the doors of the church had not yet been barred. And the boy to whom the miracle had befallen they placed beside the altar on which the blessed Saint stood. This night was glad and fortunate for the whole city, because all began to have good hope that through the patronage of the glorious Saint it would be delivered from the so cruel disease by which it was then harassed. Eight days after these things had happened, the convent celebrated the approbation of the said miracle with singular devotion and solemnity, the senate of the city being present and representing the city; which also asked of the Fathers that on that day they should lead out a procession of suppliants to the glorious Saint; and this was done. Four knights of St. James and of Calatrava carried (the Saint's statue) upon their shoulders, and carried about in that procession the boy on whom the Saint had conferred the miracle, accompanied by all the musicians of the greater church with the … (in Spanish, Los seyses) splendidly clothed, who sang various praises and hymns of the Saint. To these things the author adds that this festivity was celebrated with a most crowded concourse of the people; and that many epigrams also and hymns were composed in honor of the same St. Nicholas, of which he subjoins one there in Spanish.
§ XVIII. Miracles and benefits obtained at Cordova during the raging of the pestilence, from the 21st of September of the year 1601 until the 22nd of January of the year 1602.
[ ] A boy nearly dead from a fall, The same Christopher de Busto as above continues the account of the miracles which occurred at Cordova in the year 1601, in chapter 2, in this manner, but in Spanish words: A certain boy of six years, while hearing Mass, fell from his place onto the pavement, and was carried thence to his home, where he lay bereft of his senses from the tenth hour of the day on which he met with the mishap until the fourth hour after noon, nor could they even then strip him of his clothes. But when his father, who knew no other remedy, saw him destitute of all help, speechless, and as it were dead, being violently afflicted he went to the chapel of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and there with many tears and devotion prayed for his son's safety, and promised one Mass; and at the same moment and hour at which the father was pouring out his prayers before the glorious Saint,
the boy rose up in his own house sound and unharmed, his mother and the others who were at home marveling at so sudden a restoration. And the mother asked: Son, who healed thee? The boy answered: Mother, St. Nicholas of Tolentino. Then the mother added: Who is St. Nicholas of Tolentino? And the boy replied: Mother, the Saint who is seen in the church of St. Augustine with a partridge in his hand, he healed me. And on the next morning the father came to have the Mass said, and brought with him the said son, to give thanks to the glorious Saint.
[246] and another infected with the plague, are healed, A furious fever had seized a boy of six years on the Monday night, and at the same hour of the following Wednesday a pestilential carbuncle also attacked him; and when he felt himself so ill affected and worn out, he asked from a certain pious woman who was tending him out of charity for the bread of the glorious Father St. Nicholas of Tolentino (that is, bread blessed in his honor), which she also gave him and laid upon the carbuncle. And the said boy said: Glorious Saint, heal me, that tomorrow morning I may visit thy chapel and pray there. When he had said this, the boy fell asleep and was left by the aforesaid woman. But after the space of half an hour the same boy's father, having returned home from the country, when he heard that his son was afflicted with a carbuncle, out of fatherly love taking no precaution against the cruel disease, went in to him with the same woman, and found him sound and entirely unharmed, without any sign of a carbuncle; and, the bread being removed from the part previously infected, the boy rose up quite well and supped with his father, no otherwise than if he had been afflicted with no evil at all. And in the morning the father brought him to the Saint, to give him thanks and to inform the Fathers of the convent of the prodigy.
[247] Another delivered from choking A certain boy of ten months, while he was playing with some little pieces of glass of Argentaria (in Spanish it is con unos vidros de Argenteria; there is an island of that name in the Archipelago, otherwise called Cimolus, and likewise a little town in Languedoc), incautiously swallowing one, began to choke, no one knowing the cause. And already, with dying mouth, his eyes rolled back and pressed shut, he had been brought to extremity, so that all who saw him and were present grieved much. His mother, wonderfully afflicted, with a piteous voice and with great devotion and tears, falling on her knees said: Glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, heal my son, and have mercy on me who have none but him: I promise thee that, if thou heal my son, I will for nine days come to thy chapel on my bended knees. And while she was thus crying out and vowing three Masses to the Saint, a certain neighbor, entering the house with the bread of the glorious Saint, applied it to the infant's throat, and at the same moment he cast out the said piece of glass which was sticking crosswise in his throat, and came off so sound, lively, and fair as though he had not undergone so cruel and dangerous a mishap at all. And on the next day they brought him to the Saint to give thanks and to have the promised Masses said.
[248] After these things the author, some matters being interposed which make little or nothing to our purpose, These three miracles adds that the most honorable lord Ferdinand Mohedano de Saavedra, canon and, the see being vacant, vicar of the bishopric, at the suppliant prayers which the author himself had presented to him in the name of his convent, first ordered the aforesaid three cases to be examined by Damian de Vargas, licentiate and prebendary of the church of Cordova, and by two physicians, and then sent the Process so drawn up to the heads of the monasteries and to the theologians, that each might give his opinion upon it; and finally, on the XIII day of December of the year 1601, summoned a council in the church of the greater hospital, that it might at last determine what was to be judged.
[249] The following are recorded to have been present at this assembly: being lawfully examined, are approved. the lord Alphonsus de Miranda, cantor of the holy church of Cordova; doctor Christopher de Mesa Cortés, canon; doctor Alvarus Pizano de Palacios, canon; the lord Ludovicus de Góngora, prebendary; and the licentiate Damian de Vargas, prebendary. Now all these, the acts of the Process being read out, determined with one voice that the said three cases were to be held as true miracles; and as such they were declared by the vicar, and presently proclaimed with the festive sound of the church bell: which refreshed not a little the afflicted city, the plague still growing worse at that time. Finally the Augustinian Fathers rendered solemn thanks to God for the said miracles with great festivity on the XXVII day of December of the same year. Now I proceed to chapter 3, in which six other miracles likewise approved are reported.
[250] From the time when the three miracles already reported were approved, A young man, a Mass being said for him, is delivered from the plague. until the XXII of January, that is in the space of forty-one days, God wrought many miracles through the patronage of the blessed Saint, which we shall subjoin; and here indeed only the six which were approved, and which are the following. A certain young man of sixteen years, seized with a pestilential fever and infected in one of his groins with a carbuncle, having been given up by the physicians, and having received the Sacraments and been anointed with the holy oil, asked of his master that he would have one Mass of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino said; and the said master presently had it said at the Saint's altar. And at the very time at which the Mass was being celebrated, the said sick man wholly recovered in his own house. The Mass being ended, the master returned home and asks how he is: the young man answered: Good master! how St. Nicholas has healed me! Didst thou not see me, while thou wert hearing Mass, standing behind thee, and the Saint coming down and laying his hand upon my face, where the plague was burning, and healing me? The master, marveling at this, looked at him and recognized him safe and lively; for which reason the whole household, exulting, came to give thanks to the Saint.
[251] An ox, the blessed bread being applied, is healed: When very many oxen of a certain farmer of Cordova had perished of the disease which is called (in Spanish) aserrio, it happened that an ox of one of his workmen was likewise in danger. He therefore, seeing his own dying, groaned much and with great devotion said: Glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, since thou art wont to succor in every need, I most humbly beseech thee to look upon and heal this ox, and to free him from the said disease, so that I may devote myself to thee as a devout servant as long as I live, and will have one Mass celebrated. When he had said this, he took the bread of St. Nicholas, which he wore tied about his neck, and hung it about the neck of the ox; and without delay the ox rose up sound, and came off strong and lively; and he who had been so near to death presently began to plough with the rest. After three days the said workman took away the bread that was tied to the ox and hung it upon his own breast; but scarcely had he done this when the ox relapsed into his former disease, and one not lighter than before but rather graver: for he was already thinking of slaughtering him. But the aforesaid workman, looking upon the dying ox, most devoutly hung again upon the ox the bread which he had taken back to himself, and on the instant the ox rose up unharmed and robust, and, yoked to the plough, ploughed more vigorously than the rest.
[252] the same bread being applied, a girl of ten months A certain girl of ten months was seized at the ninth hour of the day by a pestilential fever, and a carbuncle occupied one of her groins; and that evil attacked her so violently that there was no time for applying medicines. And when her father and aunt [*] saw her so greatly infected, afflicted, and destitute of all hope of medicine, they commended her to the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and, the bread being laid upon the carbuncle, vowed one Mass with the utmost devotion and weeping. And at the very time at which the Mass was being vowed, the infant wholly recovered, and remained fair and lively without any sore.
[253] a boy of six years A boy of six years had fallen at sunset into a pestilential fever, a deadly swelling of the size of a hazelnut having arisen also in one of his groins, and he was oppressed with many anguishes and frequent vomiting. When his mother saw him so dangerously infected with the plague, fearing lest he should be carried off to the hospital, she disclosed the matter to no one but to a single Religious of St. Isabel of the Angels; who advised her to use the blessed bread of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and to commend her son to him. The mother doing this with great devotion, applied the bread to the carbuncle and laid the boy in bed; and at the same moment he fell asleep. But at midnight the mother, returning to see whether he rested, found him in bed unharmed and singing, and when morning came brought him to the Saint to give thanks.
[254] and a girl of seven presently recover from the plague: A girl of seven years, burning with fever with vomiting and many distresses, and infected with a pestilential swelling, laboring under the deadly pestilence, asked her mother for the bread of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, requesting that she would apply it to the carbuncle by which she was much afflicted. The mother hung it about her neck, and, laying her in her little bed, with much weeping and devotion vowed a Mass to the Saint: and when this was done the daughter at once grew quiet. Two hours later the mother, visiting her again, found her sleeping, and, taking the bread from her neck, bound it to the carbuncle, as she herself had asked; then, after half a quarter of an hour, visiting her again anxiously, she found her daughter sound and without any swelling, sitting up in bed and singing and saying that she had been healed by St. Nicholas of Tolentino; and presently in the morning she brought her to give thanks to the Saint.
[255] Three fishermen, having fished for three days in the rivers of the Sierra Morena, by the use of the same a vast catch of fish is obtained. took only a hundred and fifty pounds of fish. Before I proceed, I would have the reader here advised that in the Spanish, for "a hundred and fifty pounds," is read seys arrobas: now an arroba, in the Spanish Lexicons which we have, is a measure of twenty-five pounds; yet one renders arroba in Latin as amphora. What the author properly intended I do not know: but the said quantity of fish does not agree well enough with what follows. Now let us return whence we digressed. And so, weighing that scantiness, they betook themselves to a certain stream which is called Guadalmellato, and there, letting down their nets, they laid the bread of St. Nicholas upon them to attract the fish, and vowed with great devotion three Masses to the glorious Saint, that he might obtain for them from God the wished-for success of their fishing. Then at a single haul they took a thousand five hundred pounds (in Spanish sesenta arrobas) of fish, besides more than ten (arrobas), which, because they could not be held, leapt back into the stream, so that they could not carry them all to the city. Forthwith the said fishermen hastened to give thanks to the Saint, and gave fifty pounds of fish to the convent as alms.
[256] Of these, three are lawfully admitted as miracles: Thus far Christopher, who adds that he here passes over many other miracles, because the persons on whom they were conferred so requested. What was afterwards done, receive in summary. The lord Ferdinand Mohedano, vicar of the church and of the bishopric, at the urging of the Augustinian Fathers, ordered the aforesaid miracles to be examined and a process to be drawn up concerning them. These things being done, he appointed an assembly in the chapter house of the chief church for the XXII day of January in the year 1602, at which, besides many canons, learned men from each
of the religious Orders, thirty-three in number, came together. All being assembled, the Process was read out and the votes were collected, and finally it was declared that four of the six said benefits were to be held as true and authentic miracles; but concerning the remaining two, of which we reported the first at num. 250 and the other at num. 255, it was decreed that each was to be admitted as an admirable case, and indeed even as probably miraculous.
[257] Further, the names of those who took part in this examination the names of those I review from Christopher, for the greater credit of what has been said: The canon Ferdinand Mohedano de Saavedra, Vicar; doctor the lord Alphonsus de Miranda, cantor; the lord Gonsalvo Flores de Carvajal, archdeacon of Castro; the lord Francis de Vera y Aragón, archdeacon of Los Pedroches; the lord Peter López de Angulo, Prior of the church; doctor James López de Fromesta, canon; doctor Christopher de Mesa Cortés, canon and vicar general, jurist and consultor of the holy Office; doctor Alphonsus de Buitrago, canon jurist; doctor Alvarus Pisano de Palacios, canon of holy Scripture, consultor of the holy Office; the canon de Alderete; the licentiate Damian de Vargas, prebendary. From the Order of St. Dominic: the Father master brother John de Angulo, Prior of St. Paul's of Cordova; the Father master brother John Carillo Vanegas, consultor of the holy Office; the Father master brother Peter Martin, consultor of the holy Office; the Father presentate brother John Emmanuel de Hestrosa, lector.
[258] who approved them. From the Order of St. Francis: Father brother John Moreno, consultor of the holy Office and lector. From the Order of St. Augustine: Father brother Augustine de la Torre; the Father master brother Balthasar de Molina, definitor of his Order and consultor of the holy Office; Father brother Peter Cavallero, lector; Father brother John de Ocampo, preacher; Father brother Peter Mora, preacher of the convent. From the Order of the Carmelites: Father brother Alphonsus de Salinas, lector of Theology. From the Order of St. Jerome: the Father master brother Peter de Cabrera. From the Order of Mercy: the Father master brother John Nuñez Franco; the Father presentate brother John de Vega. From the Order of Victory: Father brother John de Piña, lector of Theology; the licentiate Peter de Navarrete, advocate; the licentiate John de Valavarea, advocate; and besides these many other Religious from each Order, who together were thirty-three in number.
[259] Thanks most solemnly rendered to God. These things being accomplished as has been said, by order of the chapter the signal was given with the bell of the chief church, and at the same time all the parishes and monasteries of the city applauded with their bells; and the whole night that followed was also passed with the utmost exultation of the people. Then in the church of St. Augustine thanks were rendered to God for eight days, solemn Masses being solemnly sung on the first day by the canons and on the remaining seven by various religious Orders, and sermons delivered to the people. Finally on the eighth day, which was Sexagesima Sunday, a procession was appointed, in which the boys delivered from the plague were led about in the same dress in which they had been healed. The ox also, of which at num. 251, stood at the doors of the church with the blessed bread hung about his neck; and many boys who by the Saint's help had that same night recovered from the plague were seen in his chapel, and proclaimed the glory of their Preserver.
Annotata* or maternal aunt; in Spanish, Tia
§ XIX. Thirteen other miracles, wrought at Cordova or near it, and approved by four physicians and twenty theologians.
[ ] A girl infected with the plague, the Saint being invoked, Great was (continues the praised Christopher de Busto in chap. 4) the devotion of the people with which throughout the said Octave, and the whole of Lent until the XV of April, it ran to this glorious Saint; at which time also he wrought very many miracles, which we shall report afterwards; but here we shall narrate only thirteen, for which firmer proofs are had. A certain girl of six years fell first into a cold, then into a hot fever; vomitings came on, and a deadly swelling as big as a fist arose in the armpit of her arm; and thus for two days and as many nights she was in danger. But about the middle of the last night, when she considered herself alone, afflicted, and empty of all hope of human remedy, she raised herself upon her knees on her bed, and said: Glorious holy Father, St. Nicholas of Tolentino, have mercy on me, who am dying without hope of remedy; and since thou healest all the children who commend themselves to thee, restore me also to health. When she had said this she fell asleep, and on the next morning at sunrise she was healed and was perfectly well. Indeed she was of such robust health that at the ninth hour of the day she worked at school with the other girls.
[261] A boy of three years was seized with so violent a fever, and with such pain of the breast from a carbuncle that had arisen upon it, a boy that he seemed likely to die shortly, and already gave many signs of approaching death. After the space of an hour in which he had lain dying, the boy said to his mother: Give me the Saint's bread, and lay it upon the carbuncle which torments me so greatly. The mother applied the said bread to the swelling, which in size equaled an egg: and when this was done the boy grew quiet; after half a quarter of an hour the mother returned to examine the swelling, but found that it had utterly vanished, and the boy without fever, sound and unharmed. Ten days having passed after this, they brought the aforesaid boy to the Saint's chapel to give him thanks and to have said the Mass which the mother had vowed for the restoring of his health. And when they had entered the church of St. Augustine, they showed the boy various images of the Saints, asking which of these had healed him. Among the rest they showed him also several images of St. Nicholas, which besides the miraculous one are seen in that church: but he answered not a word; but when he entered the Saint's chapel and beheld his miraculous image, then indeed of his own accord, plucking his grandmother's veil, he said: Grandmother, grandmother, this one healed me, he, the living one, he, the living one! And he pointed him out with his finger: at which thing the crowded throng which was present in the chapel marveled and gave thanks to God.
[262] A certain girl of nine years felt at the third hour after noon a pain in her hip; and three other girls and at the hour of prayer she was seized with chill and fever, and in the part where she had felt the pain a pestilential swelling of the size of a plum arose. Seeing herself so hurt and afflicted with so cruel an evil, she commended herself to the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, crying out with a loud voice: My Saint, my Saint, since thou healest all children, heal me; and presently, asking for the glorious Saint's bread, she applied it to the swelling, and so remained until midnight, when at last she fell asleep; and in the morning she rose sound and unharmed and free from all evil.
[263] A girl of six years suffered first from chill, then from fevers seized by the same pestilence, the blessed bread being applied, and vomiting, and a deadly carbuncle had occupied the armpit of her arm, and in this way she lay for three days. But on the third day in the morning, while her mother was looking for linen from which to sew the funeral garment in which she should be buried together with her own sister, who had died of the same disease and had not yet been buried, a certain paternal aunt (or maternal aunt [*]) of hers bethought her of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and, running with bitter tears and great devotion to the monastery of St. Augustine, asked for bread blessed in the Saint's honor, and brought it to the mother; who, going in to her dying daughter, amid tears and pious affections applied it to the infected part, and then, going out, reported that she had already done so. After half a quarter of an hour the same mother returned to her daughter to see whether she had already died, that she might be committed to burial: but she found her sound and perfectly well, and clothed her; and on the same day she played in the street, no otherwise than if she had not suffered from such an evil.
[264] A certain girl of five years was sick with fevers and a flux of the belly, and that disease had begun at the seventh hour of the morning, and at the fifth hour after noon a pestilential swelling appeared behind her ear: miraculously healed. and when the mother and the rest of the household saw her so stricken, most devoutly invoking the glorious father St. Nicholas, they laid the blessed bread upon the swelling. This was done at the fifth hour after noon, namely when the swelling had first arisen; and by the hour of prayer she had already wholly recovered, and was brought to the Saint to give thanks.
[265] A leech sticking in the throat expelled. A certain carrier, journeying to Cadiz and drinking on the road from a spring, swallowed a leech, which, sticking in his throat for twenty-five days, could not be expelled by any of the various remedies that had been applied. And so, when he felt his throat being closed up, he implored the help of the glorious father St. Nicholas, vowing three Masses; and presently after the vow had been uttered with his mouth he happily cast out the leech, which in length equaled a quarter of an ell, and in thickness a finger.
[266] Other A boy of two years suffered from vomiting and a pestilential fever, and had one of his groins stricken with a deadly swelling; and while his mother grieved that he was so sick and afflicted, she vowed, for the restoring of his health, to visit the Saint's statue for nine days. On the second day, on which she had offered her prayers to the Saint with the boy lying in her arms, she anointed the ill-affected member with oil taken from the lamp of the chapel, and laid upon the swelling the bread consecrated in his honor. Scarcely had she done this when the boy fell into a fair and peaceful rest, and the mother found that the whole swelling had utterly vanished and that the boy had recovered.
[267] boys A pestilential fever with a deadly carbuncle had attacked a boy of six years at the twelfth hour of the day: which his grandmother noticing, that same night, bathed in pious tears, she carried him to the Saint. But since she found the doors of the church then shut, on the next day at the tenth hour she brought him back thither, and, having a Mass said in the same Saint's honor, she smeared the carbuncle with oil of the lamp which hangs in the chapel, and applied the blessed bread; and at the twelfth hour the said boy enjoyed entire health.
[268] and a girl A girl of five years fell on Saturday, at the hour of prayer, into a sharp fever, and was afflicted with it until the afternoon of Monday, when the disease grew violently worse. At the twelfth hour of the night she began to complain more; and therefore her mother, from maternal anxiety, examined whether any pestilential swelling appeared upon her; and in fact she discovered a swelling as big as a hazelnut. Understanding that her daughter was suffering from the plague, with tears rising she most devoutly commended her to the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and, the blessed bread being applied to the deadly swelling, she vowed to the Saint one sacrifice of the Mass and a solemn feast. These things were done at the eleventh hour of the night; and at the ninth hour of the day, visiting her again and finding her sound and unharmed without any sore, they brought her to the Saint to give thanks.
[269] delivered from the plague. A boy of six years had begun about the hour of prayer to vomit and to grow feverish, and after half a quarter of an hour a carbuncle like a bean appeared upon him. When therefore his mother with the rest of the household saw him so stricken, breaking out into pious
lamentations, she said: My Saint, my Saint, my Father, St. Nicholas, heal my son; and saying this she applied the blessed bread to the swelling. It was then, as has been said, the hour of prayer: but by the Ave Maria the boy came off free of fever and of all swelling, sound and cheerful.
[270] There was a certain youth of eleven years of age, A certain man in the midst of a fire who, being most devoted to the glorious father St. Nicholas, always wore of his blessed loaves one tied about his neck and another laid upon his back. He, having on a certain evening related many things to the household in commendation of the glorious Saint's cult, when night was already coming on, went to bed. Now his sleeping-place was very narrow, and his bed a mat laid upon straw, with which also the rest of the room was filled for the uses of the stable. The youth undressed and, composing himself to rest, uses all his clothes for a pillow; and, forgetting to put out the candle he had been using, is seized by sleep. It was then the ninth hour of the night when the straw lying about began to catch fire, and was burned together with the middle of the little bed, so that from the pillow to the middle of the bed, as has been said, nothing was left that was not reduced to ashes.
[271] But about midnight the house was filled with so copious a smoke is preserved unharmed by the blessed bread. that all the household sprang from their chambers to discover what part of the house was ablaze. For all were almost suffocated by the thick smoke. And so, while they search through the house, seeing a light through the door of the youth's chamber, they run thither, and, the door being opened, find him sleeping above the fire, which had burned from the ninth to the twelfth hour of the night. Being roused, he rose so sound and unharmed that not even a hair of his was singed, although, as we have said, half of the bed in which he lay had burned, and the fire had left nothing beneath him unconsumed from the pillow to the middle of the bed. Wherefore all marveled at so great a prodigy and so great a reward of piety granted by God to the aforesaid youth and to the whole household, in that no one had perished in that fire and smoke. Further, the blessed bread which that youth was then wearing was laid at the feet of the Saint's statue.
[272] A youth of ten years began at sunrise to suffer from frequent vomiting, Another infected with the plague, healed as he goes to the hospital: fever, and a pestilential carbuncle, and at the second hour after noon of the same day received from the physician whose office it was to pass judgment upon plague cases a letter by whose tenor he should be admitted to the hospital. But while that boy was about to go thither with the said certificate, he asked his mother for the glorious Saint's bread, and, having applied it to the affected part, prayed to St. Nicholas along the way with such devotion and faith that, when after cleansing the stains of his conscience with the hospital's confessor he presented himself to the physician of that place, he was found already wholly healed, and was bidden to return joyfully at a run into the city, not without great consolation to himself. On his return he made it his first care to give thanks to the Saint; and then he was brought to the former physician, by whom he had been sent with letters to the hospital, that he might examine him and give sentence concerning his former disease and his sudden restoration to health. He therefore saw him, and, having tried the beating of the artery and examined the place of the swelling, recognized him as free both of fever and of every swelling. At both of which he greatly marveled and bore witness, and rendered thanks to God for so signal a miracle.
[273] An infant of one year, seized at the fifth hour after noon with a pestilential fever, likewise an infant suddenly recovers from the same pestilence. and at the tenth hour of the night with a carbuncle also behind the ear, was so violently sick that no room was left for any medicine. In this manner he lay from the time at which the carbuncle had come on until the fourth hour of the following evening; when the mother, pitying her son, with great devotion and weeping commended him to the glorious father St. Nicholas, the blessed bread being applied to the swelling. Without delay the boy was healed, and, freed from the fever and the pestilential carbuncle, was carried to the Saint's statue to render due thanks.
[274] These miracles approved by 4 physicians and 20 theologians. These thirteen miracles were approved by four physicians, who declared upon oath that the said sick persons could not, according to the precepts of their art, have been healed by natural powers, and by twenty Theologians, who judged that they were to be held as evident miracles, the names of each being subscribed; so that there is wanting to them only the confirmation of the prelate, who, being then absent from Cordova, could not give it. And while these were being examined, God wrought many other prodigies of this kind; but these, because they were so frequent, as we shall see below, and because the plague was raging most fiercely, could not be lawfully proved; and therefore we shall here report only those things which happened successively in these days for the increase of the Saint's cult. Various processions to the Saint
[275] Throughout the time of the Lenten fast the resort of the people imploring the help of St. Nicholas was without limit, because the diseases were raging violently. During this sacred season, by night as well as by day, many companies of penitents came to his chapel; whose devotion was such that those who stood in numbers in the church to look on broke out into tears and sobs when they saw some loaded with heavy beams, others with plates of metal, others bound with fetters, others bearing torches and flambeaux; here old men, there youths and boys of tender age coming on after the manner of suppliants, and that with such devotion and silence that they vehemently kindled devotion in the minds of the spectators; especially when, coming into the sight of the glorious Saint, all fell upon their knees and crept forward in that fashion as far as his altar, over a space of fifty-nine paces; by which manner of going they were so wearied that it was necessary to help them to rise and to relieve them of the heavy burden that lay upon their shoulders.
[276] made not without fruit And as by these and like exercises of piety (for always some crowd of every rank was to be seen most devoutly intent upon vigils, prayers, and contemplation before the glorious Saint) a singular devotion was stirred in the minds of all, so all sought the health of soul and body, and many happily obtained it, as is manifest from the miracles and notable events which we have reported and shall report hereafter.
Annotata* in Spanish, Tia
§ XX. The image of St. Nicholas, by the order and in the presence of the senate of Cordova, is carried to the suburban hospital of the plague-stricken: it kisses the feet of the Crucified Lord: a man dying of the plague is healed.
[ ] The contagion of the plague spreading, Above in §13, where we treated of certain statues of St. Nicholas made illustrious by a prodigy, we made mention also of the Cordovan one, by reason of the miracle by which it shone forth wonderfully while it was being carried to the hospital of St. Lazarus situated outside Cordova; but we have preferred to report here the whole course of the event, because it properly pertains to the miracles obtained at the time of the plague of which we here treat, and to the cult rendered to the Saint at Cordova on that occasion. The praised Father de Busto writes thus on this subject in chap. 5: When at this time (the year 1602) the contagion of the plague continued to rage after so many supplications, processions, and novenas in all the churches and monasteries of the city, and God did not hear us because of our sins, the lord James de Vargas y Carvajal, lord of El Puerto, corregidor and chief judge of Cordova, together with the college of the city, decreed that the image of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino should be carried in the deepest silence to the hospital of St. Lazarus for the solace of the sick; and this was carried into execution.
[278] On Thursday morning, which was the VII day of June, the senate of Cordova the statue of the Saint the corregidor with the twenty-four and the Jurats deputed to look after the public health, assembling in the church of St. Augustine, heard Mass at the altar of the miraculous Saint, on which another statue of him was placed. The Mass being ended, a certain priest clothed in surplice and stole took the statue which was to be carried from the hands of him who had celebrated, and thence the corregidor and the senators and the deputies and the Prior with his own, all walking in order and bearing candles in their hands, accompanied it until it was brought into the hospital where the sick were tended. But because the things which happened there at the reception of this statue, as it approached the hospital, were, as I judge, neither heard nor seen at any other time, I shall narrate them as an eyewitness.
[279] He adds that two great baskets full of blessed loaves were carried at the same time, carries with a suppliant procession to the hospital of St. Lazarus, and that this suppliant procession went forth at sunrise in the deepest silence, lest the citizens, being roused, should go along with it to the hospital, and thus, especially since the heats were then intense, the contagion should creep more widely. Then he continues thus: In the manner we have said we came to the gate of the city which is called the New, through which we entered, and, being received amid musical harmonies by that holy convent of St. Mary of Mount Carmel which is situated beside it, we passed through the church of the same convent and went out through the gate which looks upon the field and leads to the hospital. Further, the Brethren of the hospital had beautifully adorned that road as far as the hospital gate with poplars and other shrubs and fragrant herbs, for the receiving of the statue.
[280] At the end of the road a chapel with an altar piously adorned had been raised of branches, herbs, and various flowers, before which, being received with the utmost joy, in which Father Brother John de Navas, of the Order of the holy Father Francis, confessor of the hospital, awaited them, clothed in alb and stole and bearing in his hands a great and devout icon of the Crucifix. On one side of the chapel stood the women and children, on the other the convalescent men; and as many as their strength allowed had flocked thither to receive the image of the Saint. While all were standing thus in that field, so that we who had come thither were separated from the rest who were staying there, and while the statue of the glorious Saint was being carried to the chapel in which the Father confessor was waiting with the Crucifix, the musicians sang festively from the tower of the Carmelites, both to gladden the sick and that the Saint might be received with joy and devotion.
[281] the feet of the image of the Crucifix But when the sacred effigy was being borne to the altar, the Father who bore it fell upon his knees before the confessor who held the Crucifix, and at the same time all who were present in the field likewise fell upon their knees. These being thus prostrate in the deepest silence and humility, the Father who bore the Saint's effigy, kneeling before the Crucifix, began to raise it in the manner in which the sacred chalice is wont to be raised, and lifted it until the Saint's face reached the most sacred feet of the Crucifix; and when it had reached them, the glorious Saint kissed them, and clung with his mouth to those most holy feet for the space in which one might recite the Apostles' Creed. Would that, with heaven's favor, I might be able worthily to set forth what then happened: for while the image of the glorious Saint set its mouth to the most sacred feet of Jesus Christ
and held it there, so great were the lamentations, wailings, and tears of all those inconsolable sick that they made an astonishing spectacle, and the very strongest of the men who had brought the statue thither wept like children.
[282] amid the cries of the sick calling out On the one side the musicians, performing their parts with trumpets, moved the hearts of all; on the other a numerous crowd of women — widows, wives, and convalescent girls — raised piteous voices to heaven, while there cried out the multitude of orphans who were mingled with the women, and a vast number of the sick, of all of whom some bewailed their parents, some their children, some their spouses who had there died; and all cried with one voice, saying: Father St. Nicholas, my holy Father, my Saint, mercy! health, health, which thou grantest to the children in the city, obtain thou also from Jesus Christ in this most afflicted hospital for these wretched, afflicted, and sick sinners. Then, the statue being drawn back by the same priest from the feet of the Crucifix, the whole field likewise fell silent; and a little after, when it was raised again and its mouth set to the feet of the Crucifix, although the wailings had been many the first time, they were more the second: and, the statue being drawn away again, the field likewise grew quiet once more.
[283] it kisses once and again: Further, when the said Father who held the Saint's statue had raised it a third time, it, showing great reverence and humility, again kissed the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ; and presently there arose again through the field so great an outcry that the minds of all who were present were shaken. Thereupon the priest, drawing the statue away from the feet of the Crucifix and turning its face toward the people, lifted it on high with raised arms, and the same the confessor who held the Crucifix did at his bidding; and while this was being done with great gravity and devotion, the people, with the like lamentation as before, repeated their cries and implored mercy so humbly that I am firmly persuaded that God thereupon softened his wrath; namely, while he beheld and heard so great a throng of Christians, so stricken and afflicted with plague, and among them some old men, some young, some orphan children, so many aged and honorable matrons, so many women in the flower of their age, so many widows, many young girls also and orphan maidens; all of whom, the Saint's effigy being turned toward them, cried out together with the rest who had brought it, with joined voices and tears: Father St. Nicholas, father St. Nicholas, help us, that we be not cheated of all consolation: health, health! The remaining cries, prayers, and lamentations of the wretched, which are subjoined there, the same being thence carried into the hospital, I pass over, and proceed to the rest.
[284] A little after the things which we have said had been done, the Father who carried the statue laid it reverently upon the altar, and the confessor, with a certain Brother of the hospital carrying the Crucifix before, bore it to the women's ward of that place; which the Father confessor entering, and greeting the women with weeping and devotion, said: My sisters in Jesus Christ, you see the Crucifix, and his glorious, prodigious, and beloved St. Nicholas of Tolentino, whom the convent of St. Augustine has brought to you for your consolation and health, together with the same Saint's loaves. When he had said this, the sick women at the sight of the Crucified Lord and of the blessed Saint uttered such cries and wailings that we who had remained outside were shaken by the voices and lamentations carried through the windows of the hospital, of those saying: Father St. Nicholas, mercy, mercy! no otherwise than as if they had been sent forth from some deep cavern.
[285] In that place all were afflicted and stricken with pestilential swellings, and the blessed bread being distributed among the sick, some seized with raging fevers and bound hand and foot, others in their death agony, others already dead, others with their abscesses opened, others lying with bodies putrefied and running with matter from the carbuncles. Nor was that the only grief that distressed them; but they were tormented with another no less. There were, namely, among them very many mothers, daughters, granddaughters, and little grandsons; and mothers beheld their daughters, and daughters their mothers, expiring before them, and being carried off to burial without any rite of interment; by which thing they were indeed not a little tortured.
[286] a man in his death agony is suddenly healed, After these things the blessed loaves were distributed among all the sick. Among them one, with eyes broken and teeth clenched, was giving up his soul; and while in the meantime they commended it to God, they whispered to him the name of Jesus, and urged him to call upon the glorious father St. Nicholas. Whereat the dying man, recovering his senses, said with great confidence: St. Nicholas, St. Nicholas; and adding nothing further to these words, by repeating them he began to recover his soul and to be restored to himself, and in so short a time recovered that the superintendent and the physician of the hospital, with the rest who were present, were astounded at so great a miracle and at the sudden health which the sick man had obtained.
[287] But it pleased God also of his divine clemency to show mercy to the rest; and the plague raged more mildly. for from that day the pestilence began to rage more mildly, and both in the hospital and in the city things began notably to improve; many miracles also were obtained through the patronage of the same Saint, as will appear from the following chapter. Note here in passing, reader, that nothing is recorded in this account of Fr. Christopher de Busto concerning the prodigy of St. Nicholas's statue falling upon its knees, nothing of the Crucified Lord loosing his hands from the cross and embracing the Saint (both of which some say was done, as in §13); whereas nevertheless that writer was present at the event, and thus must be judged neither to have been able to be ignorant of it, nor to have wished to be silent about it. Note secondly that the plague, contrary to what those same writers maintain, by no means then ceased, as will be still more manifestly clear from what follows.
§ XXI. Various persons delivered from the plague and other evils at Cordova in the year 1602.
[ ] A boy in the Saint's chapel, The often-praised author promised above at nn. 274 and 276, and likewise 287, that he would recite some out of the many miracles which had occurred after the thirteen others reviewed in §19: this he performed in chap. 6 in these words: On Good Friday a certain boy of one year began at the seventh hour of the morning to suffer from vomiting and fever, and from a pestilential swelling that had arisen in his groin; and when the mother noticed this, taking him up in her arms she brought him to the Saint, and, kneeling in his chapel while the most holy Sacrament was being exposed, she spoke thus with many tears and devotion: Glorious father, St. Nicholas of Tolentino, my Saint, my Saint, heal this so tender offspring, and have mercy on him and on me, to whom he is an only child. These words she uttered so effectually, while the procession was going on, that when it was finished the boy had already recovered, and was so sound and lively that he gladdened all the beholders. At this miracle the corregidor was present with his whole court, who on that day was attending the divine offices in the church of St. Augustine.
[289] and a girl in the hospital suddenly delivered from the plague: When a certain girl had been infected in the morning with a pestilential fever, and at the second hour after noon with a carbuncle also, she was examined by the physician who was in charge of those touched by the plague, and was sent with a written certificate to the hospital, to be tended; where she arrived at the third hour after noon. She, as she was leaving home, applied the blessed bread of the glorious Saint to the swelling, and implored his help with great faith: and when she had come to the hospital, her mother, who had brought her, bidding her farewell, said: My daughter, may the Lord and his blessed Mother and the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino be with thee; commend thyself devoutly to him, while I betake myself hence to his chapel to pray for remedy and consolation for thee. Then the mother went to the Saint, and the daughter, being admitted into the hospital, at once confessed her sins. Now at the same time at which the mother was praying to the Saint, the girl, her confession being finished, rose from the confessor's feet sound and lively and of a lively color, to the wonder of the confessor and of the rest, in that they beheld a girl so disfigured in so brief a moment of time wholly unharmed and fair: and therefore she was presently sent back into the city.
[290] likewise a man A certain man, having felt a mild fever at the beginning of the night, fell about midnight into a violent one; and while he was moving his right leg, thinking that its foot had been laid against his left groin, a carbuncle like a pigeon's egg arose in it, and he was at the same time oppressed with frequent panting and the anguishes of death. And when he found himself in that state, calling upon the glorious Father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, he laid upon the aforesaid swelling the blessed bread which he wore tied about his neck, and promised the Saint two Masses and a wax candle of one pound to be lighted to his glory. And at the same moment (it was the twelfth hour of the night) at which he was making these vows, he wholly recovered without any trace of the evil, and when morning came presently hastened to give thanks to the Saint and to have the promised Masses said.
[291] A youth of fifteen years was stricken beneath the right jaw with a pestilential carbuncle, and a youth, vows being made and the bread applied. which allowed not even the passage of water, and was swollen like half an orange. When he was about to go to the hospital in the country to be tended, the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino came into his mind, and he vowed him one Mass; and his mother most devoutly bound the glorious Saint's bread to the swelling, saying: My Saint, my Saint, heal my son, as thou healest the rest infected with the plague. These things were done at the hour of prayer, and then he fell asleep: but about midnight he was restored to the most complete health without any sign of the plague; at which his mother and he himself marveling, they did not delay to render thanks to the Saint.
[292] A certain workman, as night came on, began to suffer from vomiting and a pestilential fever; Several others from the same pestilence, and on the next morning he appeared with a deadly swelling as well. It was then Septuagesima Sunday, on which the chapter of the chief church was solemnly performing the divine offices in the church of St. Augustine on account of the glorious Saint's miracles. And so, when this man heard that a feast was being celebrated in that church concerning the said prodigies, about the ninth hour of the day he betook himself thither, and most devoutly prayed the Saint that he would deign to heal him, wretched and destitute as he was. His prayers ended, he sat down until the sacred orator, who was doctor Picano, a canon, had come to the subject of the Saint's miracles: and while he was speaking of these to the people, the man commended himself again with great faith to the Saint. The sermon being dismissed, the sick man likewise rose up unharmed and returned to his own house, from which he had gone out with no other intention than to make straight for the hospital, after he had visited St. Nicholas, as he had vowed, and had prayed him for his own health.
[293] On that night which followed the day on which the last miracles of the glorious Saint had been approved, the Saint's help being implored, a fever seized a certain woman, and at the time when the bells were being rung in thanksgiving a pestilential swelling seized her: and since she knew why they were being rung, calling upon the glorious father St. Nicholas she vowed that, if she were alive on the next morning, she would visit his chapel and would not withdraw thence save whole or dead. In the morning she did as she had vowed; and persisting there in prayer until midday, at last she felt herself healed, and on the next
night she passed cheerfully in her own house.
[294] A pestilential fever and swelling had suddenly infected four children of tender age and of prosperous health, and the blessed bread being applied whom, when their parents beheld them afflicted with so horrible a disease, bathed in tears they most devoutly prayed the glorious father St. Nicholas that he would deign to heal their sons, besides whom they had no others; and they applied the Saint's blessed bread to the carbuncles: which being done, they recovered so suddenly that the parents, marveling at so sudden a restoration, presently brought them to the Saint to render thanks.
[295] Two infants of three years had fallen into a pestilential fever; they miraculously recover. and to one of them two, to the other five carbuncles had arisen. Their mothers, beholding them most grievously afflicted, the carbuncles swelling violently, besought the glorious Saint with great devotion to succor their sons; and while they were praying, the glorious Saint's bread being applied to the swellings, they laid them in their little beds: but returning to them after half an hour, they found them sound and doing well, and brought them to the Saint in thanksgiving.
[296] Another benefit ascribed to the Saint When a certain woman, who had been married twenty-two years, and in all that time had not been able for all her many prayers to obtain from her husband a deed of dowry, had heard the Father Master Brother Balthasar de Molina, of the Order of our holy father Augustine, discoursing from the pulpit on the Saint's miracles and saying among other things that that Saint was patron to all the afflicted, she, falling on her knees in her own house and placing sure hope in the Saint's help, humbly begged him that by his prayers with God her husband might be moved to grant the said deed. While she was praying thus, the husband rose, and, taking his cloak, went out of the house; and after a quarter of an hour, returning to her with a notary, witnesses, and a document, he granted her the deed of dowry: and when it was drawn up, the said woman related to her husband, the notary, and the witnesses the spiritual diligence which she had used and its happy success: and therefore all these rendered thanks to God and to his blessed Saint.
[297] Boys fallen from a high place, by the blessed bread Two boys of four years of age, of whom one had climbed onto a certain gallery and the other onto a wall seven tapias high (this is a Spanish word, which signifies walls of earth, but here it seems to be used for a certain measure, and therefore I have not translated it), fell headlong. One of them a certain black woman (a Moorish slave seems to be meant), the other his aunt [*], saw as they fell; and as they were falling, the black woman said to the one: May St. Nicholas of Tolentino help thee. Now that boy wore the blessed bread tied about his neck, and so fell onto a brick pavement, and yet suffering no harm thereby, came down upon the soles of his feet. To the other boy his aunt likewise said: May St. Nicholas of Tolentino help thee: and he likewise, falling upon the soles of his feet, took no harm from it; and both came off unhurt, and were brought to the Saint to give thanks.
[298] are preserved and healed: Two boys and one girl fell; the girl from a place fifteen tapias (see the preceding number) high, and the boys tumbling headlong from a height of five rods. At their fall the mothers ran out to find out what was happening, and found their children lying on the ground like dead men; nor was any of them restored to his senses for the space of a whole hour. And so, since the mothers reckoned them among the dead, imploring the aid of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino they begged with great devotion that he would restore their sons unharmed. Saying this, they laid the glorious Saint's bread on their mouths; and presently the children were restored to their senses and to entire health without any injury, and were brought to the Saint to render thanks.
[299] two old men delivered from retention of urine: When two old men of very advanced age had labored many hours under a dangerous retention of urine, and no human remedy could be found for so great a torment and peril, turning to the divine they called upon the holy father Nicholas of Tolentino, asking for a cure, and put a little of the blessed bread into a little water; and as soon as they had used this medicine, at the same moment they came off sound and unharmed.
[300] beasts of burden cured, There were two men, strangers and poor, each of whom had a single beast of burden by which he earned his living. Each was in danger of its life, the cause of the ailment being unknown. And when they were now almost expiring, and no hope of life shone forth, the aforesaid men heard of the Saint's miracles, and understood that brutes as well as men were healed by him; they therefore most devoutly prayed him to preserve for them these beasts, by whose labor, poor as they were, they sustained their families. One of them had the Saint's blessed bread, and, crumbling it, gave it to be eaten by his beast, which, being now almost dead, had not eaten for three days: the other vowed two Masses to the Saint: and without delay, while they were piously considering these things, the beasts, the disease being driven off, rose up and bore their accustomed labors.
[301] Two suckling children, their mothers having withdrawn and left them beside a hearth lit with coals, children's burned hands healed. being as they were without reason, thrust their hands into the embers; and when they felt them being burned, they closed them; and they clenched them the more tightly the more violently the embers sticking in them burned them; whence also they uttered bitter wailings. Roused by these the mothers ran up to learn the cause of the weeping, and found live coals thrust into the palms of their children's hands, and, pitying their mishap, called upon the glorious father St. Nicholas, and bound his blessed bread to the burned hands until they should have sought fitting remedies from the apothecary. Now when after a quarter of an hour, the medicines having been brought, they unloosed the bandages of the hands, they beheld the palms of them whole and unhurt, no scar of the burning being left; and presently they carried them to his church to render thanks to the Saint.
[302] When a certain prelate of a convent of Cordova, journeying with some merchants to Seville (which is the metropolis of Vandalitia proper in Spain), had come to Illipula (in Spanish Peñaflor, which is a town of Spain met with by those travelling between Cordova and Seville), Persons struck by plague, from various causes he fell into a pestilential fever, a carbuncle also arising in one of his groins; by which thing he was violently afflicted, and the more so because he saw himself deserted by his companions on the road. Placed in these straits, he called upon the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and applied his blessed bread, which he had tied about his neck, to the deadly swelling: which being done, he was so suddenly healed and came off so unharmed that he continued the journey he had begun with the rest. He afterwards, returning to Cordova, made the fact known to the Father Prior of the Augustinians, asking that his own name be concealed.
[303] Three men suffered from a pestilential fever, a carbuncle having arisen in each: by the use of the blessed bread, they, when they noticed that they were infected with the plague and that the swelling was increasing, most devoutly implored the help of the glorious father St. Nicholas, and applied the said bread to the carbuncles, and moreover each promised one Mass. Then, night coming on — at which time, namely, they had applied the blessed bread — they fell asleep; and on the next morning, being endowed with entire health, they had the promised Masses said.
[304] Three men, among whom one was a nobleman, each afflicted with two carbuncles and a pestilential fever, and by St. Nicholas's with frequent vomiting and the anguishes of death, received counsel from the members of their households, who pitied them, that they should commend themselves to the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino; and both they and the households doing this, they implored the glorious Saint's help, and at the same time applied the blessed bread to the swellings, and, being healed at that same moment, hastened to the Saint to give thanks.
[305] A man and a woman, seized by the plague, a swelling having already arisen, while they were on their way to the hospital to be tended there, promised that on the road invocation they would visit the chapel of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, to ask of God a cure by his patronage. And so at the ninth hour of the day they came to the Saint's chapel, and, having prayed before his statue until the twelfth, rose up to hasten to the hospital: but then, marveling that they were sound and unharmed, they returned rejoicing to their own home.
[306] and patronage A pestilential fever with two swellings and as many carbuncles so suddenly seized a certain woman that the force of the disease allowed no room for medicine, and the physician ordered her to be fortified at once with the last Sacraments of the Church. And she had already been anointed with the holy oil, when, remembering the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, she asked for his bread and laid it with great devotion upon the swellings and carbuncles: which being done, she fell asleep, and after half an hour was found in the most complete health, without any trace of the swellings or carbuncles.
[307] wonderfully A certain woman at the ninth hour of the day began to suffer from a flux of the belly and a fever; and at the eleventh hour two swellings and three carbuncles came on: wherefore, meaning to go to the hospital, she took the blessed bread from her box and most devoutly applied it to the swellings and carbuncles, saying this: Glorious Saint, father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, have mercy on me, who find myself so afflicted with this evil that I seem to myself likely to die very soon. These things happened at the twelfth hour of the day; but at the first hour she had already wholly recovered, and presently ran to the Saint to render thanks for so signal a benefit.
[38] and suddenly Another woman, married, was overtaken at sunrise with a swelling and a pestilential fever; which greatly afflicted her parents and her husband. And so, when her father saw her infected with the plague, he with his whole household most devoutly commended her to the glorious father St. Nicholas; and she herself, falling upon her knees with great devotion, said: My Saint, my Saint, heal me, since thou healest so many: and at the same moment at which she had cried this out, she began to be better; and while she was raising herself to her feet, she found herself wholly unharmed.
[309] the plague being driven off A certain knight of the chief nobility of Cordova, staying in a country house to which he had withdrawn to avoid the plague, took at the hour of prayer first a cold and then a burning fever; nor did he doubt that he had caught the plague; and in fact about midnight great anguishes of the heart came on, and a swelling arose in the groin. When his household learned this, they urged him to call upon the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino. He obeyed, and asked for his image, and, applying it to his mouth, most devoutly begged a cure: and doing this he presently fell asleep, and on the next morning was found unharmed.
Annotata* in Spanish, Tia
§ XXII. Other miracles obtained at Cordova in the same year 1602.
[ ] The Augustinians, for the extinguishing of the pestilence We continue with Fr. Christopher de Busto to narrate the rest of the things which happened at Cordova in the same year 1602. In the month of June of the said year the dreadful pestilence had not yet ceased to afflict the city; nay rather, in the convent of the Augustinians, which it had spared until then, from the XX of June until the XXX of the same month it carried off five Religious in the flower of their age and most devoted to the Saint. These deaths moved the Fathers to implore more ardently the help of their holy Thaumaturge; and they determined that on the last night of June, the Saint's statue being carried about through the monastery, they should hold a procession for the safety of their own and of the whole city; which with bare
feet and bearing torches in their hands they performed amid prayers and pious tears.
[311] And not indeed with a fruitless effort: for not only was no one afterwards seen to fall sick in the said convent, they hold a procession not without fruit. but a certain magistrate of the city, whom they call Corregidor or Corrector, testified on the next day to the Augustinians that more than a hundred, of whose life the physicians had already despaired, were found that morning out of danger in the hospital, and that no one there had died that night. Thereafter the pestilence so decreased that, on the testimony of the praised Christopher, on the XV day of July of the same year no one in the hospital nor in the whole city suffered from it any longer, and on the XXVIII day of the same month the cessation of the plague and a sharp return of health were there proclaimed. The plague being so happily extinguished, the same author adds, there was a vast concourse of the people to St. Nicholas, to give thanks for the benefits obtained in that most sorrowful time. Of these miracles he narrates the following in chap. 7, which I again subjoin in his own words rendered into Latin.
[312] A certain girl of nine years of age, sitting with the rest of the household in a chamber, A girl seized by a demon was examining whether her hair, which had been cut on account of an illness, had already grown; and when it turned out otherwise, she said: May the devil take this hair of mine. And when she was for this reason rebuked by the bystanders, she said again: May the devil take this hair of mine; being reproved a second time, she replied: May the devil take this hair of mine, and me along with it. When she had said this, being seized by a demon she sprang up with such swiftness and lightness and made such a din that she was to all a scandal, a horror, and an amazement, in that they saw a girl formerly so modest and quiet now so immodest and restless that all the household were offended at her words and deeds. For among the other things she was doing, when the most holy Sacrament was being carried past her door, being bidden to adore it, she refused; nor could she at last be brought, save by force, even to look on as it was carried by; and when she saw it, she began to mock and to say: Do but see who goes along between four little torches, with a banner going before! After this she also put out her tongue and began to insult with gestures, so that the household were greatly offended thereby.
[313] They therefore, pitying the unhappy girl's condition, with great devotion called upon the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, is delivered by the blessed bread: and offered the said girl bread blessed in his honor; but she, although she had said before that her teeth itched with hunger, spat it out. All the household therefore were troubled by her words and deeds (especially when they saw her wandering without touching the ground with her feet and blurting out such things), and sought a cure. At length a certain man forcibly thrust the said bread into her mouth, and when she had vomited it up, he put it into water and, forcing her mouth open, poured it in together with the water in the name of the glorious Saint; and as these flowed down into the girl's throat, she sank down with her body onto the pavement and sat still and grew quiet, and then, being restored to her senses, felt no further evil. And being asked by whom she had been healed, she answered: By St. Nicholas of Tolentino: and she was brought to the Saint to render thanks.
[314] by the use of the same bread, a certain widow the plague, A pestilential fever and swelling had seized a certain widow: which when she perceived, commending herself to the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, she came to his chapel to pray, and there most devoutly begged a cure, and asked for his blessed bread, of which she ate the one half and applied the other to the swelling: these things being piously done, she found herself sound, and returned to her home full of joy.
[315] another woman epilepsy, A certain woman had suffered for many years from epilepsy, and was daily shaken by that evil at the hour of prayer so violently that she was an object of pity to her household and to all who saw her; especially because that evil raged each time for a whole hour. But when at this time the Saint was working such frequent miracles, the aforesaid sick woman, having most devoutly invoked the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, applied his bread to her heart, and moreover vowed certain exercises of piety: nor was she ever thereafter seized with that disease, but always enjoyed entire health.
[316] and another likewise the plague, were cured. About midnight a pestilential fever seized a certain woman of twenty years, and in the morning a carbuncle occupied the armpit of her arm, and therefore before sunrise she was sent to the hospital. As she was leaving home, she would admit no medicine save the blessed bread of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino; which, when she had received it, she devoutly applied to the swelling. But when she had come to the middle of the journey, she was so worn out that she could not go further. Feeling this, with greater devotion and confidence she called upon the Saint's help, and, advancing little by little, came to the hospital about sunrise; before whose doors she again most intensely called upon the Saint, and that with such faith and devotion that there before the hospital gate she was seen by all suddenly healed; wherefore she did not enter it, but hastened to the Saint's chapel, in which she passed the remainder of the day in rendering thanks to God and to his blessed Saint.
[317] A little epileptic girl, A certain infant, eleven months old, was tormented with epilepsy: and when her mother considered that that sad and dangerous evil had already lasted six months, and raged twice daily, and as it were left the infant lifeless, she commended her to the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and vowed that she would bring her to keep sacred vigils in his chapel. From the same hour at which she had made this promise, the aforesaid infant was never again seized with that evil, but always remained free of it and unharmed.
[318] and a man infected with the plague, were healed: A certain man of forty years of age fell in the morning on the fourth Wednesday of Lent into a pestilential fever, and was seized with one swelling. He, while making for the hospital of St. Lazarus to be tended, vowed to go on the way to the church of St. Augustine, that he might visit the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino and beg a remedy. And while he was praying in the Saint's chapel, which he had entered about the eleventh hour of the day, within the space of one hour he came off sound and in the best health, and returned to his home full of joy.
[319] a runaway youth brought back home: A certain woman had a son of fifteen years, whom she loved most tenderly, and besides him she had no other. When this good woman had learned that the glorious Saint gave aid to all the afflicted, she vowed to go to his chapel for nine days to pray that he would bring back her son, who had now been gone nine months, and of whom she had in the meantime heard nothing. As the novena of devotion was ending, on the last day she had a Mass celebrated at the glorious Saint's altar in his honor; which being finished, returning home she found her said son in it, and presently, returning to the chapel, rendered thanks to the Saint and informed the Fathers of the event.
[320] A certain woman, after she had waited upon all her household infected with the plague, a woman from the plague, of whom eight had died of it, was at last herself also seized with the same evil. When therefore she found herself stricken with a twofold swelling and a pestilential fever, she implored the aid of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and, besides two Masses, vowed that, if she were alive on the next morning, she would go to the Saint's chapel to pray. She reached the next morning, but so worn out that she could scarcely walk: nevertheless she went as she could, and arrived at the tenth hour of the day; but at the twelfth she was free of every evil and in the best health.
[321] When a certain man had suffered for a day and a half from a flow of blood from the mouth, a man from a flow of blood from the mouth, and had already been left by the physicians as incurable, he commended himself to the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino and asked for his blessed bread: and when it was not at hand, he laid an image of the same glorious Saint upon his mouth; and at the same moment the blood stopped, and he remained safe and unharmed, nor was he ever again troubled with that evil.
[322] In a certain monastery of the city of Cordova one of the nuns, seized with a pestilential fever and a swelling, a nun likewise from the plague, had struck terror into that whole household. About sunrise, while the physician is being summoned, a certain one of them, piously affected toward St. Nicholas, together with all the rest began to implore the help of this glorious holy Father, and applied his blessed bread to the swelling that had arisen. Meanwhile the physician arrived at the eighth hour of the day: but by then she had already wholly recovered; and therefore in thanksgiving an image of the glorious Saint, famous for miracles, is seen painted in the choir of that monastery.
[323] A certain Religious, a grave man and master in sacred theology, and a Religious from quinsy, suddenly recover. of a certain Mendicant Order, being seized by night with quinsy, was in great distress. Now the said Father was most devoted to the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and always kept his blessed bread about him: this therefore he applied to his throat, where the quinsy pressed most; and presently it vanished, and he was freed from so troublesome an evil.
[324] A certain boy of ten years of age, when he had been brought by his father to the house of the physician A boy infected with the plague, with the physician's certificate who was in charge of those infected with the plague, so that with a certificate received from him he might be admitted to the hospital, being examined by the aforesaid physician was found to be suffering from a pestilential fever and one swelling, and received the certificate he had asked, drawn up in these words: Admit John, a boy of ten years, who has been seized with a pestilential fever and one swelling in the groin. John Fernández. The certificate being received, written and signed in the said words, the boy said to his father: My father, before thou take me to the hospital, lead me to the church of St. Augustine, that I may visit the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, for I desire to pray to him.
[325] The father therefore brought him to the Saint, and there they prayed for a little while: then they went on to the hospital, at which the boy arrived greatly afflicted and sick. [having entered the hospital, the certificate being changed by divine power, is presently sent back sound,] But while the father was handing over his son into the hands of the keepers, the boy grieved at being torn from his father, and began most devoutly to implore the Saint. Being brought to the hospital gate, he showed his certificate to those by whom he was to be admitted; but in it the contrary of what the physician had written was read; for it ran thus: Do not admit John, a boy of ten years, who is sound. John Fernández de Alfaro. This certificate being read, they examined the boy, and, finding him safe and unharmed, bade him return and gave him back to his father, who had not yet reached the gate of the city through which the boy had gone out.
[326] Certain things worthy of note. Memorable is what the author here observes; namely, that it was by no means necessary that the garments of those who had miraculously recovered from the plague through St. Nicholas should be burned; nor, as is customary at other times, were they burned. That too was a singular benefit, that, on the same testimony, in whatever house anyone by the help of the same Saint the plague
had shaken off, no one thereafter throughout all that time in which it continued to rage against the rest was seized by it, although the greatest part of those healed were children who had contracted the pestilence in the very beds of their parents and had lain in them until they were miraculously healed. These things being observed, receive the rest from the same Father Christopher.
[327] Two women and as many boys, delivered from a grave malady, Two women, brought to extremity by the sharpest pains of the side, had already been given up by the physicians; likewise two boys had lain for two days from a most grievous sickness deprived of their strength and speech: whom, when their mothers perceived that they could not be cured by human remedies, they called upon the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and, having promised him four Masses, laid the Saint's bread on the mouth of each: which being done, presently all four, recovering their senses, rose up safe and unharmed, and were brought to the Saint to render thanks.
[328] two others from paralysis, delivered: In the hospital de la Lampara at Cordova, in which women were tended, two paralytics had stayed a long time; and one of them, hearing of the miracles which the glorious Saint frequently wrought, said to the other: Sister, take this image of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and beg health for thyself. The paralytic took the aforesaid image into her hands, and, fixing her eyes upon it, began with many tears to pray the Saint to restore her health; and her weeping and devout prayer were of such efficacy that she suddenly found herself sound, and, rising, rang the hospital's bell in thanksgiving. Three days later the other paralytic, who had given that counsel, bathed in tears, used the same prayer: and while she did so, she seemed to herself to be admonished to rise; which thought she reckoned to have been sent to her only to disturb her prayer. But the same thing seemed to be repeated to her so often that she wished to try whether she could raise herself (for she had now suffered from that evil for years). And she rose up sound and whole, and for joy hastened to ring the bell to give thanks.
[329] colic pains A certain canon of the holy church of Cordova was by night so racked with a sharp torment of the stomach and colic that he was in great distress. Finding himself in this state about midnight, he remembered the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and most devoutly asked him to free him from that evil: and when he had begun so to pray, and had vowed one Mass to be said at his altar, presently, the evil being driven off, he remained sound.
[330] When a certain Religious of a certain Mendicant Order, driven away: a man of much gravity, who was to preach the sermon on the next morning at a certain festivity of the glorious Saint, was lying by night in his bed, he was seized with such sharp pains of the stomach and anguishes of the heart that he was violently tormented, and, the evil growing worse and worse, he could not rise. He therefore, seeing himself thus affected, and at the same time weighing the dangerous contagion of the plague, remembered the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and, taking his bread from his neck, applied it to his heart, saying: Glorious Saint, today I must preach upon thy festivity; and therefore I beseech thee to obtain a remedy for me from God our Lord. When he had said this, all the pain ceased, and he rose unharmed, and on the same day, enjoying the most prosperous health, delivered the sermon, and rendered great thanks to the Saint.
[331] A certain canon of the second Order of the holy church of Cordova, when he had long suffered with his legs, sores of the legs, which were stricken with several sores as broad as a palm, and saw that he profited nothing by the various medicines he had used, called with great devotion upon the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, saying: Glorious Saint, look not upon my sins and my age, but obtain health for me from God, as thou obtainest it for little children. When he had said this, he ordered the Saint's blessed bread to be crumbled, and put it into water, with which, when he had washed his sores, he bound them up with clean bandages. And not long after he inspected them again, and, finding them wholly healed, he presently hastened to the church to be present at the divine offices, and informed his colleagues of what had befallen him.
[332] While a certain surgeon was trying to open a vein for a nun of St. Mary of Grace, and a severed artery suddenly cured: he cut through her artery; and when they could not stop the blood, although among very many remedies applied to no purpose they had even covered the wound with plaster, beholding her so afflicted they remembered the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and laid the same Saint's blessed bread upon the wound; which being done, presently the blood stopped, nor was another drop shed: for which reason they rendered very many thanks to the Saint.
[333] A certain man, cutting wood on the mountain, wounded his foot; taken in the foot, and, it being ill tended, he was crippled in the whole leg. And when he had now for six months found himself in this state, and saw that all his savings, which had been small, had been spent on medicines to no purpose, he vowed to visit the chapel of the glorious father St. Nicholas and there to beg for health. Therefore, leaning on two crutches, he came from the Almodóvar gate to the Saint's chapel, a quarter of a mile distant from it, and, having entered the chapel, prayed most devoutly from about the tenth hour of the day until the fifth after noon; and then at last, rising, he found himself safe and unharmed, and, leaving his crutches in the glorious Saint's chapel, sought his home again with thanksgiving.
[334] A certain Moorish woman, sprung from the kingdom of Granada, given the power to walk: an infant restored to life: being crippled in that limb by a certain malady of the leg, when she had heard the miracles which the glorious Saint had wrought, with great devotion commended herself to him and vowed one Mass; and presently she was healed, and came to the monastery to have it said. A boy of eleven months on a certain day seemed to have died; whom his mother, while she was laying him out for burial, remembering the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, took up in her arms and carried to his chapel, and, kneeling before him, prayed for his life; and without delay the infant wholly recovered.
[335] an infant delivered from a most grievous malady. From a certain little infant all the intestines were pouring out through the navel: and the mother, seeing her little daughter seized with so unwonted an evil, called to mind the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and crumbled his blessed bread and cast it into water, and with that water and bread washed the infant's intestines, and devoutly promised three Masses: which being done, the intestines were at once restored to their own place, and the infant was endowed with entire health.
[336] A nobleman already dying is restored to health: When a certain nobleman, twenty years of age and married, seemed already about to die, and the Religious, who were Augustinians, had already commended his soul to God, the thought of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino came to them, and they urged the sick man's wife to commend her husband as devoutly as she could to the glorious Saint. She, using this counsel, promised him certain festivities, and laid his blessed bread upon the dying man's head. Scarcely had she done this when he, presently freed from all danger, recovered, and felt nothing left of his former disease but a weakness of strength.
[337] a like benefit conferred on three boys Three boys of eight years were sick: of these one lay dying, having lost his speech with his strength; to the mouth of another they had for two hours and more held a mirror, doubtful whether he lay alive or dead; the third at last was giving up his soul from the burning of fevers; the disease of all was judged by the physician incurable. These being placed thus, as has been said, the boys' mothers, turning to the help of the Saint who succors all, called upon him amid abundant tears and pious affections to heal their sons, and at the same time applied his blessed bread to their mouths. Which being done, they were suddenly healed, and, being brought by their mothers to give thanks to the Saint, offered at his altar some wax candles which the mothers had promised while they were applying the blessed loaves.
[338] and on a noble youth. When a certain noble youth, a native of Cordova, had suffered three days from fever, the physician, having consulted the beating of the artery, said to him at the hour of prayer: It is fitting that your lordship receive the Sacraments; for without a miracle you will not be able to prolong life until midnight. And when he had understood what the physician had said, he most earnestly called upon the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, vowing that he would every year have a solemn festivity celebrated to him, and, if he could, would establish it in perpetuity by a settled endowment. The vow being made (it was then the ninth hour of the night), he suddenly came off safe and unharmed, all sickness being driven away.
[339] A disease of the eyes driven away A certain infant of six months was seized with such a disease of the eyes that she kept them closed for many days and could not open them. Then, however, she so opened them that nothing but the white of them appeared, and they rolled so swiftly that they struck horror into the beholders, when they saw them perpetually moving, the pupil being always hidden. And so the mother, seeing her little daughter destitute of every remedy, remembered the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and commended her to him, saying: Glorious Saint, look upon this creature seized with so unwonted an evil: so speaking, and making the sign of the Cross over the infant's face with the blessed bread, while she drew it over the eyes, she presently restored them sound and unharmed as before, and the girl remained wholly free from that disease, and was brought to the Saint to render thanks.
[340] The praised writer here observes that among these thirty-three miracles, The plague being extinguished, the public health is proclaimed. which were reported to the monastery of the Augustinians between the first and the XXVIII day of July of the year 1602, only six are reviewed which pertained to the plague driven away; because, namely, the contagion had by then already abated very much, and in the same month was at last so lulled or extinguished that on the XXVIII day the public health was at length proclaimed with great solemnity, and with a banner raised, one side of which displayed the most sacred Mother of God, and at her feet St. Nicholas with some of the children whom he had preserved from the plague; the other represented the holy martyr Sebastian and St. Roch.
§ XXIII. The remaining miracles and benefits wrought at Cordova and about that city: solemn thanks decreed to St. Nicholas by the clergy and senate of Cordova.
[ ] A woman armed with the blessed bread We have not yet reached the end of the miracles by which the Saint, truly a thaumaturge, shone forth among the people of Cordova at the beginning of the XVII century until the X day of September of the year 1602. For there remain twenty-four, which we subjoin from the so often praised Father Christopher. A certain woman had grave fears from her husband, who threatened her life, because she had in fact violated the faith she had pledged him. When therefore she saw that her husband was plotting her death, she commended herself to the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and promised that thereafter she would keep the faith of marriage and would order her life in a Christian manner, if she were rescued from so great a danger. But on a certain day about the hour of prayer the husband, at the devil's prompting, said
to her: Woman, put on thy veil, that we may walk on the bank of the river.
[342] Hearing this she was struck with the gravest fear, receives two dagger blows with her breast unhurt. and earnestly called upon the glorious Saint, and, laying his blessed bread upon her breast, put on her veil as she had been bidden by her husband, and went out with him, calling continually upon the glorious Saint and praying, and anxious lest the said bread should be shifted from her breast. Meanwhile the husband led her through various lanes at last to that which is called the Palm of St. Peter; and when they had come to a secluded place in it, he attacked her breast with a dagger and struck it into the blessed bread, and in this way did her no harm. In this peril the woman again most earnestly implored the Saint's help; but the husband dealt her another blow, by which, when she had fallen almost lifeless to the ground, he, thinking her dead, fled, nor did he afterwards appear again. But the woman, rising from the ground, inspected her breast and found it sound and whole and free of every wound and hurt, and on the next morning, having confessed her sins, set forth the whole course of the matter.
[343] A certain woman near her delivery, since it behoved that this should for just causes be concealed, withdrew to give birth to the house of honorable women, so that, as was fitting, he succors a woman in labor: the birth might not be published abroad. But while she was setting forth the matter to the said women and was coming to their house, she was presently seized with pains and gave birth, and, only one leg of the child having come forth, she could not bring the rest into the light; whereby she was brought into such danger that she had to be anointed with the holy oil. While she was in this peril, and all the rest were troubled, remembering the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, who is at hand in every need, they most devoutly begged his help in this so present evil, and one of the women who were with her bound the Saint's blessed bread with a bandage to the child's leg; which being done, the child drew it back into the womb together with the bread, and presently, turning itself in the womb, the head being turned about accordingly, came forth into the light with the bread bound to its leg: at which thing all marveled, and rendered thanks for so prodigious a delivery to our Lord God and to his blessed Saint.
[344] by his help Another woman, greatly afflicted because her husband had long been keeping a concubine with him in one house in a certain village of the territory of Cordova, consulted the priest who was her confessor, saying: Father, what shall I do with my husband, who obstinately clings to this sin, while I lead a most bitter life? The Vicar answered — for she used him as her director of conscience: Lady, I have returned from Cordova, and there I heard the miracles of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino set forth in a sermon, and among other things it was asserted by the preacher, doctor Picaño, a canon, that from the age of the Apostles no Saint had been more famous for miracles than he; for he succors wherever he is invoked — in purgatory, on land, at sea, in fire, in air, and in desperate diseases: where there is no peace, there peace is made by him, and many have been drawn by him out of the mire of vices to which they had long clung. It is yours therefore to call upon that Saint, that you may have him favorable to you.
[345] a concubine is cast out: Hearing this, the woman resolved to visit the Saint, and asked leave of her husband, which he, God being now favorable, granted so kindly that the woman not a little marveled. On the next morning, setting out at once for Cordova, she came to the Saint's chapel, and there had three Masses read and one besides sung, and amid abundant tears and pious affections of the heart earnestly prayed the Saint to rescue her husband from so great a danger and from the perverse state in which he was. Her prayers being ended, in the afternoon she sought her farm again; and when she had come thither about sunset, the said mistress not only was no longer in her house, but had even departed from that village; for the husband had already driven her from the house and had ordered her to leave the whole village. And the husband received his wife most kindly, and lived with her in peace: at which thing the whole village rejoiced; for the matter was there most widely known.
[346] an ox fallen from a precipice is restored unhurt: When a certain herdsman was going through the mountains of Cordova, one of the oxen which he was driving slipped, and tumbled headlong from a certain lofty ridge in such a way that, when it reached the ground, the herdsman, who had run up, found it as it were dead and without hope of life. Grieving at this, he commended it to the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and promised him one Mass: and when after this the ox seemed neither to move nor to breathe, the herdsman continued his journey with the rest of the oxen, and left that one for dead. But after he had, while going along and reciting the Rosary in honor of the glorious Saint, covered as much of the road as an arrow can be shot by three discharges of a crossbow, and had already run through the whole Rosary, the ox which had fallen gave a bellow; hearing which, the herdsman looked back, and saw it following behind, and, full of wonder, led it away sound and unhurt along with the rest.
[347] The mule of a certain carrier who was journeying to Cadiz, a mule, likewise fallen, is raised up: loaded with three hundred and thirty pounds, slipped on a certain lonely path; and when he could not lift it because of the excessive weight, nor could the mule raise itself, the carrier, calling upon the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, vowed him one Mass, and, since he had no one to help him in raising the mule (for he was alone), laid upon the mule the Saint's blessed bread, which he wore upon his breast; which being done, presently, with no one helping, it raised itself upon its feet with the whole load, as if there had been none.
[348] A certain man, coming from Zalamea (which is a little town of Spain in the province of Extremadura), riding an excellent mule, was journeying to Villa de los Santos, situated in the mountains of Cordova; a mule is healed. and when he was arriving there, the mule, seized suddenly by a malady, fell in such a way that it was thought dead, and all who were present said to its owner: Brother, take off its shoes and let us go hence: for there is no room for a remedy. But when he was preparing to do this, a certain man setting out from Azavaga (perhaps Azuaga, a village of Spain in the province of Extremadura, is meant) chanced to come thither; he, learning the matter, said to the mule's owner: Brother, take this bread of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and lay it with great confidence upon the mule, that the Saint may help thee, as he has succored many others also. And so he took the bread and laid it upon the mule with all the confidence he could, vowing one Mass to the Saint. This being done, the mule rose up safe and unharmed and ate, and afterwards continued the journey to Cordova, where its owner visited the Saint, to have a Mass celebrated and to declare what had been done.
[349] Seven little boys in different houses were suddenly being choked; Poisonings driven from children: so that, when their mothers saw them, they were greatly distressed; for all lay with blackened face, eyes rolled back, and as it were dead. And since at that time the glorious Saint was becoming most famous for the many benefits conferred upon children, the afflicted parents, to whom the cause of the choking was entirely hidden, most devoutly called upon the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, beseeching him to succor these children; and at the same time the Saint's blessed loaves came into their minds, and each of them laid such a loaf upon the throat of her own son. Scarcely had they done this when one of the boys vomited up a pin, another a golden ring, a third a large fish bone, a fourth a bone likewise of a sardine (it is a kind of small fish not much unlike the herring), a fifth the head of a nail, a sixth a certain coin [*], the seventh likewise a similar coin, and all came off sound and cheerful; wherefore they were brought to the glorious Saint's chapel to give thanks. The things which we have said were cast up by the boys were laid at the Saint's feet. These children had doubtless been infected by sorcery: perhaps also these things happened on different days.
[350] To a certain carrier journeying from Cordova to Cadiz, a bag full of more than a thousand gold coins (which they call ducats), lost money recovered: which he had placed in the middle of the third part of his load, fell out on the road; which he did not notice until three miles from the place where he had lost it. Being greatly afflicted by this loss, he remembered the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and vowed him three Masses, and returned with other companions to the place whence he had come, to look for the lost money. Now all these, and many others who had gone along the same road on which the aforesaid money lay, passed it by, nor was it found by anyone, until the carrier himself, who was walking last, came thither; and he found it, and rendered very many thanks to God and to his blessed Saint. Piously indeed the said carrier ascribed it to St. Nicholas that he had recovered what he had lost, and perhaps he even truly ought to have done so: but since things of this kind can also happen by chance, we cannot admit these as a certain miracle or benefit.
[351] household goods bear the fire unharmed: A certain honorable man, fleeing the plague, betook himself from Cordova to a certain place situated in the Sierra Morena, carrying with him his most precious household goods enclosed in two chests. While he was staying in that place, it happened that the part of that house in which the said chests were kept caught fire, and they could by no means be rescued from the blaze. In one of them was the blessed bread of the holy father Nicholas of Tolentino; and when at length they had entered the chamber which had burned, they found the one reduced to ashes with all its contents, but of the other, in which the aforesaid bread was kept, and which had been placed in the same spot, all the boards likewise burned, yet all the contents untouched and wholly free of the fire. And while they sought the cause of so great a prodigy, they found among the goods the blessed bread of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and therefore concluded that God had willed through that sacred amulet to preserve the said goods entire for their owner.
[352] contagion is kept from a flock: When a certain nobleman of Cordova, one of the twenty-four of the city (perhaps senators), had lost by death many beasts of his herd — namely oxen, cows, draught animals, poultry, and other animals — so that for the sake of avoiding contagion it was necessary to change their stalls, and yet nothing availed, the said knight sent men to go to the church of St. Augustine and to have a great quantity of loaves blessed in honor of St. Nicholas, that he might put them into water and give them to the said animals to eat; and at the same time he sent as a gift a measure of twenty-five pounds (in Spanish, una arroba) of oil for feeding the lamp which burns before the Saint's statue. Now as soon as he had given the aforesaid bread of the glorious Saint to his herd and his poultry, that pestilence at once ceased, nor did anything more of the whole herd perish.
[353] a certain man is rescued from the danger of drowning A certain man travelling on foot tried to ford the river Guadiato, which at that time had swollen violently from frequent rains:
but when on foot he had passed the middle of the swollen river, he felt himself being swept away by the force of the waters. In which peril, destitute of all hope of escaping, he remembered St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and commended himself to the glorious Saint with that devotion which so great a crisis was apt to stir up, and promised one Mass. Scarcely had he so vowed when, freed from all danger, he suddenly found himself on the other bank of the river. Afterwards, returning to Cordova, he had the promised Sacrifice said, and came to the chapel to render thanks to the Saint.
[354] When the servant of a certain nobleman of Cordova, having gone out from the farm of Cardenas, was making for Bujalance (a village of Spain) mounted on a mule, another, dragged by a mule, happily escapes: pursuing his journey drowsily, he crushed a lizard that lay in his way. The mule, terrified by its shriek, threw the servant off, and he, as he fell, so entangled one of his feet in the straps that he could by no means free it: while the mule, seized by the same terror, dragging the wretched man, retraced the road at a swift gallop. Seeing therefore that he was thus caught, and that there was no one present by whom the mule might be stopped, but rather that he was being dragged and hurled along by it more and more, he called out with a loud voice upon the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino: and behold, at the same moment at which he had invoked him, saying, My Saint, my Saint, succor me, the mule halted, and he, his foot being freed from the straps, marveled that he was safe and unhurt; and retracing the road he measured the distance over which he had been dragged, and found four hundred paces.
[355] A certain old man of sixty was standing in the square of St. Saviour at Cordova likewise another dragged by a bull. when a bull destined for the public games and bound with a rope was being led thither, and he had not given way in good time. But while the bull, which was fierce and strong, was passing behind him, the old man, springing back, entangled his feet in the rope that had slipped to the ground, and began to be dragged by the bull. And when he found himself thus afflicted and confounded and in such great danger, and saw himself being dragged, with a loud voice he implored the help of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino; and at the very moment at which he uttered the glorious Saint's name, the bull stood still and went no further, but turned toward the said man; so that all thought that he would presently tear him to pieces. But as he cried out in this crisis, My Saint, my Saint, help me, the bull not only did not move toward him, but even gave place to two men, that they might loose him as he lay bound; nor did it harm either of these or the fallen old man; nay, he, rising unharmed, presently hastened to the Saint to give thanks.
[356] A certain lawyer reckoned among fables the very many miracles which the Saint had wrought, Those doubting the Saint's miracles and yet had disclosed his unbelief to no one. But it pleased God that his son, whom he had as an only child, should be seized with so grave an illness that he seemed on the point of death. And when he perceived this, he said to his wife: Lady, go to the church of St. Augustine, and there commend our child to the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino. And she, seeing her son already dying, ran at once to the Saint, and with many tears and devotion prayed for his health, and presently had a Mass said. The Mass being ended, she returned home to see what had happened to the boy: and when she had arrived, he had already wholly recovered. After this the father, hearing the unbelief of certain persons reproved in a sermon, came privately to the convent to accuse his own unbelief, saying that he was the man whom the preacher had rebuked; and thereafter, on account of his son's healing, he was most devoutly affected toward the glorious Saint.
[357] Another ecclesiastic and theologian, hearing of so many miracles of the glorious Saint, divinely corrected doubted of them: and when on a certain day it was said to him that two more miracles had been wrought by the Saint, being no longer able to conceal what he felt, he cried out before others: So many miracles! so many miracles! Since therefore he was in that error, as to believe that the things related of the Saint were not miraculous, God permitted that the same man, in punishment of his unbelief, should so doubt of the mysteries of the faith that he was wretchedly troubled with various doubts, namely concerning the Virginity of the most blessed Virgin Mary and the seven mysteries of the humanity of Christ. Being greatly afflicted by these, especially since he had parents thoroughly Christian and Catholic, he began to inquire by what fault he had offended God, for which he was permitted to be so grievously tempted. At last there came into his mind the unbelief with which he had rejected the prodigies of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino; and presently, stirred by the utmost sorrow, with great reverence and humility he said: Glorious Saint, I believe all thy miracles, and I grieve that I doubted of them. One thing I ask thee to grant me, namely that thou free me from that torment of doubts by which I am so greatly racked and tortured; and I for my part promise that I will remember thee as long as I live. When he had said this, he was never again tormented by the said doubts, nor by others concerning the mysteries of the faith.
[358] and chastised, A certain matron, conversing with others in a certain chamber where talk was passing about the miracles of the glorious Saint, asserted that they were inventions, and not true but fabricated prodigies. She uttered this about sunset, and then, returning home, found her only son, a young man, noble and very rich, seized with a pestilential swelling, who also in a very short time after died, although all divine and human remedies had been tried. A few days after, a certain poor man who dwelt in one of the workrooms of the same matron's house commended to the glorious Saint his daughter, infected with a like swelling; and when this was done, she was presently healed. And this is one of the ten approved miracles. And it has pleased us to report these things here, that it may be plain how God chastises those who will not believe the miracles which his omnipotence works through the patronage of his glorious Saint.
[359] A boy is drawn safe from a well: When a boy of six years was drinking, leaning upon a water jar which had been placed on the edge of a well, it fell together with the boy into the well. And when his mother and her neighbors saw him falling, with loud cries and wailing and devotion they implored the help of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, saying: St. Nicholas, St. Nicholas of Tolentino, succor this boy, that he be not drowned; and while they were saying this they threw into the well a loaf blessed in honor of the same Saint, and the boy also had a like one tied about his neck. Meanwhile they summoned someone to draw the boy out, and found a man who, going down into the well, found him upon the water safe and unharmed and free of all hurt; although he had already been in that well two hours. Then, examining and measuring the depth of the water and of the well, they found that it equaled in its depth seven times a man's stature, and in water four times. All therefore gave thanks to God and to his blessed Saint, that he had not permitted the aforesaid boy to come to harm, and presently brought him to the Saint to render thanks and to have said the Mass which his mother had vowed.
[360] a little girl drowned in a cauldron, restored to health. A girl of two years had strayed from her mother at the first hour of the day; and at the third hour after noon a certain woman, passing through the courtyard of the house, found her suffocated in a great cauldron full of water, her whole little body plunged in the water and only her feet clinging to the rim of the cauldron, so that she seemed to have fallen in head first. When the woman saw this, breaking into wailings she called the mother of the said girl, and with her other women running up found her as has been said, and, drawing her out, laid her on the ground, on which she lay for more than an hour without breath, nor after various remedies could any life be detected in her. And so, when the parents perceived that their daughter was accounted dead by all, they commended her with most abundant tears and great devotion to the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and, prayers being poured out, vowed two Masses to the Saint. Then indeed the aforesaid girl, suddenly recovering her senses, came off safe and unharmed, and was presently brought to the Saint to render thanks.
[361] Thus far the praised Fr. Christopher de Busto, The senate and clergy of Cordova decree due thanks to the Saint. who observes that besides the miracles recorded, many more and of various kinds were obtained by the patronage of the same St. Nicholas in the space of the fifteen months during which the plague had afflicted Cordova; but which he himself passed over for lack of time. Then he adds that the clergy and people of Cordova repaid due thanks to their most holy Preserver: for, the plague being extinguished and the public health solemnly declared, it was enacted by common vote of the senate of the city on the XII day of the month of August in the year 1602 that it should itself, in the name of the whole city, betake itself every year on the X of September, which is sacred to St. Nicholas, to the church of St. Augustine, and there, in perpetual memory of so great a benefit, be present at the most holy sacrifice of the Mass and at the sacred sermon and procession. The college of canons also, on the same testimony, decreed that on the same feast day four of their number should in the name of all go to the same church every year, of whom three should sing the solemn Mass and the fourth deliver the sermon. He adds finally that on the X day of September of the same year, the colleges of the senators and of the canons being present, and with an incredible concourse of the people, due thanks were most solemnly rendered to the Saint. For the rest, the miracles which we shall subjoin in the following paragraphs have been collected by us from various writers.
Annotata* in Spanish, ochavo
§ XXIV. The prodigious healing of a noble maiden of Verona, disabled in all her limbs: others contracted and paralytic cured.
[ ] A noble maiden of Verona, disabled in all her limbs, Verona, a spacious and famous city of Italy in the Venetian dominion on the river Adige, beheld in the year 1504 a notable miracle of St. Nicholas in a noble maiden, daughter of Peter de Giusti, which Jerome dalla Corte, a nobleman of Verona and a writer of the same century, reports in the second part of the History of his native place, book 16, in the Italian tongue, in these words: Not many days before, a very great miracle had happened in our city. There was sick, and disabled in all her limbs, a certain daughter of sixteen years of age of the knight Peter de Giusti, in such a manner that neither by herself nor helped by others could she move without the sharpest pains. Nor had the physicians and surgeons, who had been called in great number, been able to find any remedy that availed; so that of recovering health it was now wholly despaired.
[363] by St. Nicholas, whom she had invoked, Now when the vigil of the festivity of Bl. Nicholas of Tolentino was being kept, and the sick girl toward late evening heard the bell of St. Euphemia (namely the church of the Augustinians) being rung, she asked her mother what that solemn sound signified; and when she had replied that it was on account of the feast of St. Nicholas to be celebrated on the next day, she, her mind being suddenly lifted up, began most humbly to pray the said Saint that through his patronage with the divine Majesty she might be freed from so grave and so long-continued an infirmity, which was curable by no human art; and she repeated these prayers so often and with such abundant tears that at last she was heard.
[364] he appearing by night, she is suddenly healed: For about midnight, all the household being asleep, the Saint appeared to her and said: Rejoice, daughter, for thy prayers are heard; rise from thy bed in the name of the Lord, give thanks to the most holy Trinity for the benefit received, and tomorrow morning go to visit my altar in the church of St. Euphemia. When he had said this he disappeared: and she, leaping from her bed, felt herself safe and unharmed, and presently for very great joy called out to her mother; who, being awakened, ran up, and, beholding her daughter standing on her feet, was greatly astounded, and, thinking her seized with frenzy from the violence of her pains, began to beg her to return to bed: but when she replied that she was enjoying fuller health than ever, the mother, judging her certainly out of her mind, and seeing that nothing was gained by words, determined to attempt force, and seized her round the middle to carry her back to bed. Then indeed she found her daughter truly whole, and, having learned from her what had been done, exulting for joy together with her, she broke out into praises of the most holy Trinity and of Bl. Nicholas.
[365] the senate decrees the Saint's feast to be celebrated yearly: Roused by their voices, the rest of the household ran up, and, the young girl being found whole and the cause of her health learned, all alike began most devoutly to praise and give thanks to the Lord God and to Bl. Nicholas. And on the next morning, together with her mother and very many other noble matrons who, hearing of the miracle, had come to her house to see her and to congratulate her, she went to the church; at which, the fame of the miracle being now spread through the city, so numerous a crowd had gathered for the sake of seeing her that neither the building nor the squares sufficed. On account of this and very many other miracles wrought by this notable Saint, our people (of Verona), on the XIV day of February of the next following year MDV, enacted by a public decree that his feast day should be celebrated by absolutely all, with a public ringing of the bells, as had been customary at the other festivities of the city. Thus far the praised historian, by whom these things, as I have noted, were committed to writing in that same century.
[366] some particulars concerning this feast Nearly the same things Ambrose of Siena, who flourished at the same time in Italy, narrates in Scipio Jardinus, chap. 40, where concerning the Saint's yearly festivity among the Veronese he adds this: Therefore from that hour of that day to this present day the whole city of Verona, and the county of that city extended within no small bounds, with solemn cult and processions of the whole clergy and of the cloistered Orders and of men of every rank, most joyfully celebrate together the feast of the day, and with melodious and most holy music extol the powers of God and of St. Nicholas on organs and harps, on timbrels and psaltery and cymbals of jubilation, exulting in the church, in the streets, and in the squares; so that, so long as the light rolls over the globe of the earth, and until the darkness of night descends from heaven and drives the citizens and the common people into their own dwellings, so long do they unanimously raise the praises and glory of God and of St. Nicholas with an ineffable joint celebration… And that same girl, every single year on that day, going forth on her knees from her father's dwelling, went forward on bended knees along the whole line of the way, as far as the church and the altar of that holy Nicholas. Thus Ambrose, if Jardinus has faithfully translated his little work.
[367] Ludovicus Zacconius, in part 1 of the Italian Life, chap. 133, are reported by others. mentions the same procession, and that he himself was present at it in the year 1602. Besides, he says that in memory of the same prodigy a young girl of fifteen or sixteen years, whom other younger girls and matrons of middle age accompanied for honor's sake, used to be led about every year in that procession; but that this was afterwards omitted on account of the wantonness of certain of them. He subjoins finally that by the ringing of the bells, of which the Veronese decree treats, is to be understood the peal of the bells of the public palace, which used to be rung on the more solemn feasts of the Lord, of the Virgin Mother of God, and of the tutelary Saints of the city.
[368] The praised Ambrose of Siena reports besides another miracle of a contracted girl likewise of Verona, Another contracted girl of Verona is healed. which Jardinus rendered in the words which I subjoin. That notable professor of the medical discipline, illustrious for his learning, the lord Bartholomew de Bonfantibus, physician of the hospital of the most holy Pietà within the city of Verona, earnestly exhorts each and every one, relying on the kindliness of each, that they should not disdain to attend with kindly ears to the illustrious miracle which happened in his own house. For when he had a daughter fourteen years old, and wasted away on every side by a wondrous contraction of the limbs, whom all the physicians one and all had given up, and whose forces of the last breath of life were sweating out amid the most difficult agonies of death; and therefore when those who were joined to the girl by ties of blood, and were held with a singular cult and devotion toward the divine Nicholas of Tolentino, had most humbly commended her to that same holy Nicholas, and had made a pious vow with a mind to fulfil it — at once the girl, who was pitifully in her agony amid the passage of death, so far that nothing further remained to be determined about her save that arrangements should be made for burying her, as if happily returning from death into life, when the prayers that were being made to St. Nicholas were finished, and the vow of the pious promise had been completed with words of entreaty, was by a sudden act — more quickly, as they say, than the twinkling of an eye — carried over into her former and most perfect health. In what year or century this miracle occurred I have not found; nor do I find Bartholomew de Bonfantibus among the illustrious physicians and philosophers of the college of Verona reviewed by Andrew Chiocco. It must, however, have happened before the XVI century grew old, since Ambrose is said to have published his little work before that time.
[369] Of likewise uncertain time are the things which from the Italian lucubration of Ambrose Frigerius, enlarged by James Albericius, A tumor of the breast removed: I subjoin in Latin: In Massarellus, son of Thomas of Matelica (Matelica is a town of the March of Ancona in Italy), a hump had grown upon the breast from a certain infirmity, and he had labored under that evil now more than three months, when his mother offered him to God and to blessed St. Nicholas, vowing that, if he were freed from it, she would visit the church in which he lies buried and would offer a wax candle of the same length as her son: and not long after the vow was made he was freed, and after the miracle obtained he always lived in health.
[370] a badly twisted face restored: various Francis, son of John, of Amandola (a place of the March of Ancona toward the mountains, says Zacconius), whose mouth and eyes had been so twisted that he could scarcely see, on the fourth day after that evil befell him visited the body of St. Nicholas, and in his church prayed God, through the life, prayers, and merits of Bl. Nicholas, that he might be freed from that infirmity; and at the same time he offered a candle of six solidi and passed the night in the church; and in the morning, as he was rising, he found himself whole. Peter, son of Herculanus, of Cagli (from the city of Callium, in the speech of the inhabitants Cagli, in the duchy of Urbino under the dominion of the supreme Pontiff), had for many years been disabled in one arm and hand, which he could by no means raise: he went by vow to visit the church of St. Nicholas, and, laying the afflicted arm upon the Saint's chest, fell asleep; and then, drawing it out thence, he found it free, and always used it in health.
[371] persons disabled in their limbs Ricca of San Severino (San Severino, in the native speech San Severino, is a city of Italy in the March of Ancona) had been disabled in her right hand for five years, and had profited nothing by various remedies. At last she vowed to St. Nicholas to celebrate his feast every year; but when she was returning from his sepulchre, which she had piously visited, without the hoped-for restoration, she repeated her vow and with lamentation prayed for health. But by night a certain old man, clothed in the habit of St. Augustine, appeared to her in sleep and said: Do not doubt, come to my church, for God has heard the prayers of Bl. Nicholas for thy health. And so on the next morning she rose and set out for Tolentino, and, laying her hand upon the chest of St. Nicholas, fell asleep, and then, awaking, felt her hand so vigorous that she stretched it out just like the other.
[372] and contracted Bellaflora, daughter of Angelus, of San Ginesio (a town or castle of the aforesaid March), limped in her right foot for a year in such a manner that she touched the ground only with the great toe, and that foot and toe had so swollen that she could scarcely walk. Nor had the care of physicians brought her any relief, and they said that that foot was contracted and paralytic. Her mother, praying God and holy Nicholas to restore her daughter's health, vowed to come to Tolentino not with empty hands to visit the sepulchre of St. Nicholas, and to send her daughter thither, and to offer a waxen effigy of the foot. This vow being made, the girl suddenly began to walk, and without any delay was healed, and thereafter walked most uprightly.
[373] endowed with entire health Asta, daughter of Andrew, of San Severino, contracted in her whole body and especially in her legs, had found no help in the work of physicians: but after she had vowed to St. Nicholas a cloth five ells long for the adornment of the altar, he appeared to her by night, bidding her place all her hope in God, by whom she was to be healed; and she seemed to herself to be touched by St. Nicholas, and by that touch to be wholly healed, and her limbs seemed to be stretched out and restored. When morning came she rose by the divine help and the favor of holy Nicholas, and, leaning on a staff, began to walk about the house, and within a month was so perfectly delivered that she could go wherever she wished. This miracle will perhaps seem suspect to someone, because that cure was so slow; but perhaps the force of the evil was such that in a single night it could not naturally have abated so much as is here said to have happened.
[374] Vincentia, daughter of Salvia (in Italian Urbisaglia, a castle or village in the said March), from a certain sudden malady had her whole right side withered, being granted, and her hand had appeared black, and that infirmity held her for eleven weeks. She, having with a pious mind made a vow that, when she was restored to health, she would offer to St. Nicholas a cotton cloth and a candle of the same length as herself, on the next day began to raise herself and to walk of her own accord; and on the Sunday she went to the Saint's tomb and fulfilled her vow. What we noted concerning the preceding miracle or benefit, I would have likewise observed here.
§ XXV. Possessed persons delivered, and the illusions of demons driven away.
[ ] Brother Raphael, Possessed persons likewise experienced the present help of St. Nicholas, who freed them from their infernal guests. Various things upon this subject I find among the more recent biographers of the Saint, which, collected in this §, I set about setting forth to the reader. First of all Ambrose of Siena in Jardinus, chap. 31, reports a memorable prodigy of his own century in this manner: An ineffable amazement once violently seized the minds of mortals — namely of those who beheld with their own eyes this miracle which we subjoin, no less notable than most widely known to the whole city of Rimini (in Romagna in Italy). For in the year from the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ about MCCCCXLIX, a certain Brother Raphael, a German, of our Hermit Order, who had not yet ascended to sacred orders and was strong in the flower of a youthful age,
was inexplicably tormented with very many torments by a certain unclean spirit which possessed him, and was daily vexed beyond belief. On which account the other Hermit Brethren sprinkled him with holy water, and he resisted them with retorts, saying: Of what power, I ask, is this water so often blessed by you and sprinkled upon me, seeing that the courses of twenty days and more have flowed by since the hour of its blessing? Do you not know well that that water must be blessed every Lord's day?
[376] And indeed that Brother, being vexed with daily buffeting, an Augustinian Hermit, while by the kindness of the reverend Prior and with his leave he was lying upon the Prior's bed, that a little opportunity of rest might be his, then that unclean spirit lacked the power of vexing him: which that foul spirit taking ill, and finding no rest, at once, by a subtle contrivance and unrecognized, began to knock loudly at the door of the chamber, and, counterfeiting the voice of a mortal man, said feigningly: Praise be to God, O reverend Prior, there is one here who summons thee into the courtyard of the cloister by the gate; open the door, hasten to him. And that most unclean spirit contrived this for the reason that, the presence of the excellent reverend Prior being removed, the power of his vexing might return to him against the wretched Brother of whom we speak, and he might be able to lord it over him entirely. For while the vexed man kept himself with the reverend Prior, who was both priest and moreover prelate, that most evil spirit was found deprived of the faculty of vexing him; and hence therefore it appeared most plainly that most truly that German Brother was tormented by a malignant spirit.
[377] And with utterly unheard-of shoutings and with cries incredibly great the vexation of those demons, by which that Brother was pressed, began to be more manifestly disclosed; wherefore, by the order of the reverend Prior, he was most tightly bound by the Brethren within a certain chamber with harder chains and with thick ropes on every side. But in truth that vexed man most easily burst asunder iron chains and ropes twisted about again and again; and those unclean spirits who by divine permission possessed him, whenever they found him alone, beat him most savagely and left him almost dead and barely remaining in life at all; and those same invisible spirits of Satan lifted him, visible, high up to the beam of the hall in which they sleep, and thence carried him most swiftly from beam to beam along the roofing of the sacred dormitory in a flight athwart the air, so that a thing so wonderful was never at any other time so clearly beheld by anyone.
[378] Wherefore the reverend Prior shut him up in a dark prison with tighter bonds; by the demons but he went out thence far more easily through that iron grating and its tiny openings — a thing utterly impossible by nature to any human body. And hence it came about that the reverend Prior himself of the church of St. John the Evangelist of the Hermit Brethren of St. Augustine of the city of Rimini, stirred by an exceedingly great compassion toward the vexed man, ordered that the bells of Matins should be rung far sooner, and before the middle of the night, to the end that the devil might not any longer have the power of vexing him. For it had appeared from long experience that after those Hours of Matins, announced by the ringing of the bell, the evil demons were stripped of the power of wearing him further with anguishes and of racking him with torments, and were found robbed of the faculty of vexing him — although before the ringing of the bell that sounds the Hours of Matins that German Brother was beaten [*] with the harshest scourges.
[379] But it came about that, when the unclean spirits who vexed him had observed in a horrible manner that this practice was continuously kept by the Brethren for some several nights, they at once anticipated even the very point of midnight by a longer interval, and carried the vexed man up onto the top of the tower, and set him sitting upon the bell which was to be rung, and fixed him there most firmly with a heavy weight; wherefore the sacristan, while he pulled the bell with the utmost effort and with a strong straining of his powers, that the Hours of Matins might as usual be made known to the Brethren, could by no means draw the rope, nor by any means bring it down, and in short the bell could in no wise be rung. And the other Brethren, running up and setting their hands to the rope, strove to pull the rope and ring the bell; but likewise they could not.
[380] long vexed, Whence they run together into the courtyard of the cloister to look at the tower of the monastery; and at once the vexed Brother, appearing at the window of the tower and looking down on them from the lofty summit, began to laugh, and again and again guffawed, and addressed the sacristan, saying: Truly thou hast shown thyself an exceedingly prudent sacristan; since thou hast not betaken thyself hither by an anxious climb to see what was the cause that the bell rope would not run; for I should altogether have wished to hurl thee headlong with a strong shove from the top of this summit down through the tower window, and to force thee to run down through the air over this long descending space of sky, and by an Illyrian dance to find the foot of the tower and the lowest parts of the ground: for thou hadst a mind to ring the Hours of Matins, and yet the term for the ringing of Matins has not yet come.
[381] And he was many times seen to be carried through the air by those unclean spirits; at last and about the hour of Vespers, after the demons had struck him with a savage beating so that he could scarcely draw the breath of life any longer, it was manifest that the same man, half alive, was lifted by those demons up to the ridge of the roof in the dormitory, the whole people of Rimini, who had run together [], looking on. And moreover the tormented youth even at once openly and horribly vomited forth [] from his mouth from time to time so many coals of burning fire that an exceedingly huge basin could almost have been entirely filled with them. And at last the evil demons forthwith carried him up to the summit of the tower and placed him upon its pinnacle, and thence strove with the utmost force to hurl him headlong into the lowest parts of the courtyard. But all the Hermit Brethren and the people, who from the floor of the cloister beheld the peril of the vexed poor Religious, with a unanimous outcry of voices exhorted him to commend himself to the divine Nicholas of Tolentino.
[382] And forthwith heavenly aid shone upon him from above, by St. Nicholas being invoked and his tongue, which had before been bound with a strong invisible knot, at once appeared happily loosed, so that he could speak; and with the clear sound of his voice he cried out, saying: O St. Nicholas, help me, succor me; and suddenly a certain javelin, held out into his hands, shone visibly, so that all beheld it most clearly; and invisibly St. Nicholas of Tolentino took him [] by the hand and led him into the church, and, half alive, before the altar of the Body of Christ he began to sing in these words: We praise thee, O God; and the Hermit Brethren answered []: We acknowledge thee to be the Lord. O illustrious miracle! O celebrated miracle! O notable miracle of the divine Goodness! For God willed in these our days to be a testimony to us how vehemently pleasing, how ineffably welcome, how most sweetly dearer day by day to him is the innocence, purity, and virginity of St. Nicholas of Tolentino.
[383] And indeed unchangeable Atropos still holds upon her stout distaff threads by no means finished, and allotting Lachesis has not yet fully obtained the threads that are drawn from the distaff, and Clotho, turning and undoing them, still spinning most gladly with her fingers, has not hitherto willed to cut short the little cords of the life (he would have said more briefly and more correctly: death has not yet come) is wonderfully delivered: of the reverend master Archangelus of Rimini, in that time the most excellent Prior in that same convent of Rimini, who faithfully testifies that from the dread of that sight he had aged excessively, just as if a further twenty years' course had been added from heaven to his own age in growing old; and I myself, who have woven together this sacred history by divine help, within the hall of a Christian conscience give undoubted testimony that I knew this religious man and often had him as companion and comrade, and that he frequently related to me with his own mouth this miracle, seen most clearly by himself with his own eyes, and that he displayed it daily to be seen by all, both figured in images and set out in writing upon a sheepskin parchment; and the whole city of Rimini itself by its public testimony makes the same miracle manifest to anyone: since it was both visible to all and became notorious.
[384] the same benefit conferred elsewhere upon others. But also at the sepulchre of that same St. Nicholas in the city of Tolentino, and in the city of Siena in the chapel where the finger of that same divine Nicholas is kept, those vexed by demons, betaking themselves thither, very often, those unclean spirits being cast out, are restored both to their former liberty and to health by the help of the same St. Nicholas. The same things about Brother Raphael are read in Zacconius, part 2 of the Life, chap. 3: but he differs in this, first, in that he attaches this miracle to the year 1469. Secondly, in that he would have the hymn Te Deum laudamus begun by the Saint himself, not by the possessed man: but Ambrose's words are to be stood by, if they have been rightly translated by Jardinus. For the rest, Zacconius adds that the possessed man was from that time wholly delivered, which Ambrose takes for granted.
[385] Two possessed nuns Other expulsions of reprobate spirits from the bodies of the faithful are reported by Ambrose Frigerius, or by James Albericius who enlarged his little work, in chap. 8, from which I subjoin the following rendered into Latin: Philippina, a nun of the convent of St. Lucy in the castle of San Ginesio (of the March of Ancona in Italy), of the Cistercian Order, was for five years so vexed by a demon that, being out of her mind and destitute of all shame and memory, she often called out upon demons and by name upon Belial, the lord John of Ascoli, Reynald de Brunforte, and other dead men. Her mouth was twisted, and her hands and feet; her eyes rolled; she went along face downward on her hands and feet; she laid eggs on a perfectly flat wall, and they remained there unmoved, no otherwise than if they had lain upon level ground; she uttered unseemly words, which formerly she had never been accustomed to speak, and did other things unbecoming a nun. She, when she was afterwards somewhat calmer, most devoutly commended herself to St. Nicholas, and vowed that, if she were freed from so grave an evil, she would come to Tolentino to venerate his sepulchre: and she came with bound hands and bare feet to the aforesaid chest of the Saint, and, leaning upon it, was wholly delivered, and by the divine grace and the patronage and merits of the glorious St. Nicholas was restored to her former soundness.
[386] delivered at the Saint's sepulchre; Antonia, daughter of James Raimonus, a nun of the same monastery of St. Lucy, was for eight months most grievously afflicted by an infernal spirit, in such a manner that she threw stones, sang unseemly songs, uttered dishonorable and shameful words before the other nuns, and by night gnashed impiously. James her father and Servandia her sister, commending her with great devotion to the glorious St. Nicholas, vowed that, if the Saint should grant her the desired benefit, they would bring her to his tomb and would there offer her garments together with a wax candle. And when a little after she had been brought to the Saint's shrine, and the promised gifts had been offered, by the grace of God and the merits of holy Nicholas she returned free to her monastery, and always lived in health.
[387] likewise another woman, Salimbena Vissanucci of Visso, of the diocese of Spoleto (in Umbria), was vexed by a demon and by reprobate spirits for eleven months: she used to call out upon Scaurus, son of Reynald, of Poggio (I do not know whether this means Phalarium, otherwise Poggio Longo in Sicily, or Mandela, otherwise Poggio Mirteto in Sabina), upon Nicoletta of Paterno (a town of Sicily), and upon two others whom she did not know at all — most wicked men who had suffered the extreme punishment of fire; and she said that she had been attacked by them, and uttered many dishonorable and shameful things. When on a certain day she was not agitated by the aforesaid spirits, she vowed to God and to St. Nicholas that she would visit his tomb and would live ever most devoted to him, if she were freed from the said vexation; and she prayed God that through the merits and prayers of the same St. Nicholas she might deserve to be delivered. The vow being made, she hastened to Tolentino, and lay one night beside the tomb, and was delivered.
[388] A certain man of Montefalcone (a little town in Umbria), of the diocese of Fermo, and a man. was so vexed by a demon that, being disabled in his tongue and in all his other limbs, he could neither raise his arms, nor walk, nor speak. He vowed for his health to offer ten pounds of wax at the chest of St. Nicholas: then, being bidden to lie one night on the chest, on the next morning he was found wholly free.
[389] Aldisia, daughter of James, of Tolentino, was vexed by a demon for five weeks. Other illusions of demons Now it seemed to her every day, when she betook herself to bed, that a demon turned the whole bed upside down; and therefore she always prayed St. Nicholas that she might be freed from that vexation. On a certain night, while she was sitting on the bed, a kite seemed to enter through the window with great force and noise and to settle at the foot of the bed: but she began to say: O St. Nicholas, pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary to protect me; and without delay the demon, which had put on the shape of a kite, flew away through the said window, and from that time she was never vexed again.
[390] Tola of Morro (a village of the March of Ancona) was ill treated for four years by malignant spirits; restrained. and she seemed to herself to see Alardus and Traversus, wicked men of the same region, who for their crimes had been put to death by fire: and these indeed she seemed to see like scorched dogs, and she kept flinging out many shameful words. But her husband commended her to St. Nicholas, vowing to him as much wax as would suffice to encircle the chest, and promising besides certain pence; and he brought her to Tolentino and bade her lie one night beside the said chest; and in the morning she was wholly delivered. Thus far Frigerius or Albericius, on whose credit we have reported these things.
Annotata* rather vapularet
* accutrerat
* evomuit
* apprehendit
* responderunt
§ XXVI. Blindness, deafness, and other evils of the eyes and ears driven away: hernia and retention of urine cured.
[ ] Two blind in both From the same Frigerius or Albericius are drawn the things which we review in this §. Anselira, wife of Mark Anthony of Tolentino, when from a certain infirmity she had been afflicted with blindness more than four years, after human remedies had been applied in vain had recourse to God with frequent prayer, and vowed to holy Nicholas a waxen effigy equal in size to his statue, to be offered at his chest: wherefore she was suddenly heard and received her sight, and enjoyed it thereafter as long as she lived.
[392] eyes, Mendina suffered so from the smallpox that she lost the sight of both eyes: her grandmother, piously vowing her to St. Nicholas, promised that, when she had recovered her sight, she would bring her to visit the Saint's tomb, and would there strip her of her garments and offer them to him together with a wax candle. On the next day, not without the wonder of all, she was endowed at once with sight and with health.
[393] another in one, Catharine of Camerino (Camerino is a city of the Church in the March of Ancona) suffered for a month so in one eye that she saw nothing at all with it; nor was any hope left with the physicians. The mother therefore, turning to God with prayers, vowed her to St. Nicholas, and promised, if she obtained the benefit of health, to bring her to the Saint's chest and to offer one wax candle. And when she had obtained that benefit, she deferred fulfilling the vow: whence the aforesaid daughter after the space of a year was again seized with the same evil, and, being brought to Tolentino to carry out the vow, was suddenly and wholly healed again.
[394] likewise another in both, are given light. Joanna of Castel San Ginesio (in the March of Ancona), seized with blindness, had not looked upon the light for two months, and had been given up by the physicians. Her mother, grieving that she was destitute of all hope of remedy, made a vow to St. Nicholas, promising to offer him a cloth: and when the said Joanna entered the church, she suddenly began to see, and remained there the whole night, and in the morning was wholly delivered.
[395] Other most grievous evils When Montucchius, son of master James of Castel Sant'Angelo (in the said March), had been afflicted for several months with a great evil of the eyes, so that, swollen and infected with abscesses, they ran with matter, nor could they in the physicians' judgment be healed, his father vowed him to St. Nicholas, promising that, if his son were healed, he would bring him to the Saint's sepulchre, and would there offer the garments taken off him and a wax torch of forty solidi: which vow being made, the son presently came off sound and unharmed.
[396] of the eyes, Lucida, daughter of Morvidella, deprived of sight for thirty-one days, seemed indeed to have sound eyes, but could close them neither by night nor by day; her head also, seized with palsy, trembled. Her mother, praying most fervently, vowed her to St. Nicholas and promised him a waxen effigy. She had made this vow in the evening; and in the morning two Hermit Brethren appeared to her, one of whom said: Rise, for thy daughter is healed; and he added that he was Nicholas. And so in the morning she found her daughter sound and free of every evil.
[397] vows being made to the Saint, Lippa, daughter of Amica of Matelica (Matelica is a town of the March of Ancona), had for three years lacked the sight of her left eye: her father vowed her to St. Nicholas in the evening; and in the morning the said Lippa was endowed with sight. Nicolina, daughter of John Gentilis of Castel San Ginesio, seemed indeed to have excellent eyes, yet saw nothing at all, to such a degree that, sitting at table, while she thought she was stretching out her hand to the dish, she laid it upon the table. Her mother vowed her to St. Nicholas, promising that, if her daughter were healed, she would offer a waxen image yearly at his chest. And so the aforesaid Nicolina, being brought with a waxen effigy to the Saint's chest, lay the whole night in the church of St. Augustine, and on the next morning was delivered, and thereafter used the clearest eyes.
[398] suddenly driven away. Brother Angelus of Monte Robino (Zacconius suspects it should be read Monte Robiano), of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, deprived of the sight of his right eye for five years, vowed himself to St. Nicholas and laid one florin (in Italian fiorino, which word is sometimes used also for a certain gold coin in Italy) upon the Saint's chest, and was presently healed, and used that eye excellently. Nucha, wife of Cecchus, of San Severino, was afflicted with eyes running with matter and with an evil of the mouth, which she could not open; she, after making a vow to St. Nicholas, suddenly received light and health.
[399] The lady Evangelista of Tolentino had, while the Saint was still dwelling among mortals, A woman divinely chastised with blindness, and then delivered: been freed by his mere touch from a certain evil of the eyes: but when Brother Scambius (doubtless an Augustinian Hermit) was narrating this miracle after the Saint's death, and she took it ill that it was made public, she presently lost her sight again: but when on the same day, repenting of the deed, she applied a small piece of his garment to her eyes, on the next day she began to see a little, and after the space of a week enjoyed her former sight.
[400] A certain son of the lady Simona of Force (a castle of the district of Fermo in the March of Ancona, on Zacconius's testimony) had one of his eyes so infected with a spot a spot of the eye removed: another's fistula healed: that he could see nothing with it: for which reason his mother vowed him to St. Nicholas, and sent a certain neighbor of hers to visit the Saint's chest with gifts. And at the same time at which she was staying at the chest, the said son was suddenly healed in the aforesaid little castle. Sistus, son of Monaldescus, son of John, dwelling at Tolentino, had suffered for five months from a fistula above the eyelid, which fistula was long and broad like a wound, and matter flowed from it, nor had he found any cure with the physicians. His mother visited the chest of St. Nicholas daily, and vowed that, if her son were freed from that evil, she would offer at the chest as much grain as the aforesaid son weighed. This vow being made, in the evening the lint was for the first time removed without matter, and he was healed after eight days without medicine and without a physician's work. This healing is indeed piously ascribed to St. Nicholas, and perhaps is also due to him; yet in such cases no manifest miracle appears.
[401] Anthony, son of the lady Fina of Montecchio (in Picenum), was from a certain disease of the eyes deprived of sight for three years, three other blind persons given light. so that he saw nothing. His mother vowed to bring him to the chest of St. Nicholas and to offer a waxen image, and she brought him to the chest. And after he had passed the night in that church, in the morning he began to see, and thereafter always enjoyed excellent sight. Nuccius of Santa Anatolia (a village in the March), who had been blind for a whole month, vowed to visit the chest of St. Nicholas with bare feet: and when he had come thither he suddenly received his sight. A certain woman of Tolentino, who had been afflicted with blindness for eleven years, being brought to the sepulchre of St. Nicholas, and kneeling there from the hour of Mass until Terce, rose up saying: I have been delivered by the merits of the blessed Brother Nicholas.
[402] A certain man deaf from disease, Concerning the deaf and dumb also, healed by the patronage of the same holy Thaumaturge, Frigerius or Albericius has the following in chap. XI: Angeluccius Forte of Matelica, afflicted with a grave illness, remained deaf with dulled ears for many days, or rather weeks. After human remedies he had recourse to God through fervent prayers, and with his whole heart commended himself to the glorious holy Nicholas, and made a vow, promising that, if he recovered his former hearing, he would visit the Saint's chest at Tolentino. Whence also by the grace of God and by the patronage and merits of this glorious Saint he was suddenly healed.
[403] Ferrasolus, son of Reynald, of Castel San Ginesio, when he had long suffered from a grave evil of the ears, by which his hearing had been much dulled, another somewhat deaf, cured: an abscess of the ear healed: and perceived that human remedies availed him nothing, with great faith and devotion vowed and commended himself to the glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and by his patronage and merits was delivered. Thomasa, wife of master Reynald, of Massa (besides the two towns of this name in Tuscany, there is a village of the same name in the March of Ancona), being afflicted for eight or ten days with an abscess in the ear, vowed herself to St. Nicholas, promising that, when she was delivered,
she would visit his chest and offer a wax candle. The vow being made, she fell asleep, and that same night the abscess burst of its own accord, and she began to be better and in a short time after was healed.
[404] a certain grave malady, and palsy driven away. Venantius, son of Peter, of Borgiano (a village of the same March), for five days together was continually seeing things amiss, although his eyes were sound, and spoke ill, no otherwise than as if he had been out of his mind. His father, by whom he was most tenderly loved, commended him with great devotion and faith to the glorious St. Nicholas, and vowed that he would go to Tolentino to visit his chest and would offer half a load of grain, when his son had been restored to health. The vow being made, he was suddenly and miraculously healed; nor did he ever, in all the time he lived, suffer any trouble from that evil. Peter, son of Laurus, when he had for many years suffered from palsy in such a manner that he could not even speak save with the greatest difficulty, commended himself to the glorious St. Nicholas, and vowed with great faith and devotion, and presently was suddenly and miraculously delivered.
[405] Persons grievously afflicted Concerning help divinely given to those with hernia, the same Albericius again records this in chap. 10: A man of State (a place of the territory of Fermo, on Zacconius's testimony), forty years of age and more, had already for twelve continuous years suffered from a hernia, so that, his bowels having spread into the lower parts, he could scarcely walk. He, when he had vowed to carry a silken veil to the chest of St. Nicholas for his health, was suddenly healed without the help of any medicine, nor in the whole six years that he survived was he ever again afflicted with that evil.
[406] with hernia, vows being made, Berardus, son of Morvidella, of Castel San Ginesio, was for a year racked with so grave a hernia that one of his testicles hung down as far as the knee. His mother vowed her son to St. Nicholas, promising that in the first year she would bring a waxen effigy, and then every year a candle of the same length as the boy, to his chest. This vow she made in the evening, and on the next morning he was found miraculously healed, and always lived free of that evil. Brutus, son of Thomas, of Matelica, when he had been for four years so afflicted with hernia that he could not walk, vowed to God and to holy Nicholas that, if he were delivered, he would visit his chest and encircle it with wax candles. The vow being made, he was prodigiously delivered.
[407] obtain health. Bonanus Rubeus of Santa Anatolia (a village), having suffered a hernia for many years, remedies having been applied in vain, had recourse to God and to the patronage of holy Nicholas, vowing to visit his chest and to encircle it with wax candles if he were freed from that evil. The vow being made, he suddenly came off whole, and gave thanks to God and to St. Nicholas. Salvius, son of Scamber, of Foligno (Fulginum, in the native speech Foligno, is a city of the Ecclesiastical dominion in Umbria), afflicted for a long time with hernia, could by no means be healed until he had vowed himself to St. Nicholas; for then he was suddenly made sound and free.
[408] The same author in the same chapter adds the following concerning those who were tormented with retention of urine and with the pains of the stone: Persons suffering from retention of urine, Peter, son of Matthew, of San Severino, when he had been unable to pass water for three days and as many nights, and therefore thought he was dying, vowed to St. Nicholas to visit his chest and to encircle it with wax candles, if he were rid of so grave an evil. The vow being made, without any delay he passed water and was healed. The son of a certain hostess at San Flaviano (a village) in the Abruzzi (Further), about five years old, so suffered from the stone that he could not pass water: him his mother vowed to St. Nicholas, promising that she would offer a candle of the same length as the boy. The vow being made, the boy tore himself from his mother's lap and passed water, and returned home wholly safe.
[409] The lord Peregrinus, preceptor of St. Michael's of San Severino, healed: lay most grievously ill for twenty-one days from retention of urine. He seemed to himself, as it also seemed to the rest of the bystanders, to see a certain Brother who said to him: Bl. Nicholas sends me to thee, and says that master Angeluccius (a certain one of his friends, says Zacconius) has prayed for thy health, through whom thou shalt commend thyself to him. Presently the sick man vowed himself to St. Nicholas, promising that he would ever be most devoted to him, and that, if he were delivered, he would encircle his chest with wax candles every year; and when this vow was made, he was at once delivered and was able to pass water.
[410] Master John of Camerino for more than two months suffered a certain evil in the member, a like evil cured, which had thereupon swollen; and the physicians feared for his life. His wife vowed him to St. Nicholas, and for his healing promised that she would go to Tolentino with bare feet and bound hands. And when a little afterwards she had returned from Tolentino, her husband began to be better, and in three days was healed.
§ XXVII. Various diseases, wounds, and other evils of the body, healed and driven away.
[ ] Persons suffering from the falling sickness I proceed to narrate from the little work of Frigerius and Albericius the remaining miracles and benefits. Of the falling sickness removed he writes thus in chap. 10: Tuccus, son of master Berardus of Tolentino, was within eight days twice seized with the falling sickness, nor had the physician's counsel availed anything: the mother therefore said: I will have recourse to Bl. Nicholas, that he may help this son of mine. He meanwhile, seized with the evil, lay on the ground with eyes rolled back, and with hands and feet and the whole body trembling, and saliva flowing from his mouth, and lay for one day like a lifeless man. And when after this Tuccus had recovered his senses, his mother carried him to the Saint's chest and prayed for his health, and from that time he was never thereafter vexed with a disease of this kind.
[412] Lucius, son of Caroluccius of Macerata, afflicted with the same evil, healed. twisted his mouth violently: but after a vow was made by his mother to St. Nicholas he was delivered. Ceccus, son of Bilia, of San Severino, afflicted with that most evil malady, twisted his mouth, rolled his eyes, and brought up much saliva. Him his mother vowed to St. Nicholas, promising that she would bring him to the chest and would there strip him of his garments (to be given to the Saint). This vow being made, he was never again seized with that disease, nay he was presently delivered. Paul Mary Gardanus of Viadana (Viadana is a little town of Italy in the duchy of Mantua), son of the lord Julius and the lady Alda, suffered from the falling sickness so violently that he often fell and always appeared dead. His parents with great devotion and faith vowed him to St. Nicholas of Tolentino and brought him to visit his chest; nor did he ever again experience that disease.
[413] A boy dying from a fall suddenly recovers: The praised author in chap. 6, where he treats of the dead recalled to life, sets forth a wonderful cure of a boy in these words, but in Italian: Canginitius, son of Andrew, of Camerino, had an only son, which boy, climbing a certain wall, fell, and a great stone fell upon him, which so crushed one of his hips that it was as though cut off, and its bones were broken and appeared outside together with the marrow. And already worms were breeding in that wound, and the boy, lying like a dead man, had for two days eaten and drunk nothing, had uttered no word, nor seemed to feel anything; so that the physicians affirmed that he was next to death; but Canginitius with his wife Catharine vowed to St. Nicholas to carry this son of his, if he did not die, with bound hands to his sepulchre, and there to present a waxen hip with the leg and foot: which being done, the boy spoke and asked for drink and was healed.
[414] a girl thrown into a well is drawn out thence safe: He narrates others again in chap. 12, in this manner: Lucia, daughter of Scamber of Camerino, dwelling at Tolentino, was thrown by her two brothers, who suspected ill of her, into a well seven ells deep; and while this was being done, with the utmost devotion and humility she prayed God, and his Mother the most glorious Virgin Mary, and the glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino, to succor her in so present a peril, being violently cast down without any mercy. Hence, unhurt and affected by no loss of health, she remained there eleven days and as many nights without food and drink, at the end of which she was drawn out thence alive by means of a rope with the utmost exultation and rejoicing, and gave due thanks to almighty God and to the merits and patronage of the glorious St. Nicholas, who had guarded her in so great a crisis.
[415] a severed thumb, restored to the hand, The thumb of the right hand of Francis Andreolus of Macerata his brother so injured that, being cut off, it fell to the ground: but Francis, taking up the thumb, applied it again to the hand, saying: O glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino, thou knowest well that I have written very much for thy canonization; I beseech thee to manifest thy power to me, that I may not live maimed of this finger: for I promise that I will as soon as possible venerate thy chest at Tolentino, will offer a waxen hand of one pound, will fast perpetually on the vigil of thy festivity, and will write continually for thy canonization without any reward, when it shall be required of me. This vow being made, the said thumb of its own accord fitted itself to the hand.
[416] withers; a vow being made, it is healed. But after four days, withering, it was stripped of flesh and nail; the hand also and the arm, nay the whole side began to swell. But on the Saint's feast day he rode to Tolentino; and while he was laying the promised waxen hand upon the chest, the aforesaid withered thumb began to give forth blood and to be better, and within fifteen days was clothed with flesh and nail as before. Zacconius, reporting this miracle in part 2 of the Life, chap. 12, probably supposes that that drying up of the thumb and the other evils happened to Francis in punishment of the deferred vow: for within four days he had not yet carried the promised waxen hand to Tolentino, which nevertheless he could conveniently have done.
[417] A certain lady devout toward the glorious St. Nicholas was out of envy accused before her husband of violated marriage: he succors a matron undeservedly in peril: whence he, too credulous, without any examination and not certain of the crime, driven into a fury, drew his sword and attacked his wife with great force: but she in such straits and peril suddenly cast her eyes upon a certain image of St. Nicholas which she venerated in her house, and most devoutly and with much confidence commended herself to him. Nor was the treacherous husband able by any means to strike or hurt her; because, namely, she was protected by the glorious St. Nicholas, to whom she had commended herself with so devout a heart. The husband nevertheless, determined to make away with her by another means, gave her poison to drink, which she drank without fear; nor did she ever experience any harm from it, being safe under the patronage of St. Nicholas. At last, when it had so pleased the divine Majesty, the wife's innocence and piety were made plain, and the husband laid aside his error.
[418] At Venice a certain physician's throat was so pierced through he heals a throat pierced through: that the dagger sticking in it protruded on both sides; he therefore, finding himself in so present a peril, called upon the glorious St. Nicholas, and presently was healed, and as a token of a grateful mind
he had St. Nicholas, and himself kneeling before him, painted at his altar at Venice.
[419] A certain noble Venetian patrician, devoutly affected toward St. Nicholas, often related the singular boys fallen from a height, benefit which he had received through the patronage of St. Nicholas in his own son, and it was of this kind: While he was commanding the soldiers at Feltre (which is a city of the March of Treviso under the Venetian dominion) as captain, he had committed his little son to the care of a certain nurse. And it happened on a certain day that, while the said nurse was playing with the boy on a certain hill, he slipped from her hands and fell headlong, not without great danger to his life, both by reason of the height of the place and also because of the very many rocks that lay in the valley. But behold, while the boy was tumbling through the air ten paces from the ground, not only the nurse but all the household with a sudden invocation commended him to St. Nicholas, saying: Succor, I beseech thee, this little boy, that he be not hurt. And without delay they obtained the benefit they asked; for they found him unhurt and wholly whole and cheerful; and therefore, presently bringing him to the altar of St. Nicholas, they gave thanks to the divine Goodness for so great a favor granted through the patronage of St. Nicholas, and clothed the boy in memory of the miracle in the holy habit (of the Hermits of St. Augustine).
[420] A certain noble citizen of Perugia (Perugia is a city of the papal dominion in Umbria) had an only son, he keeps safe: whom he most tenderly loved: he fell from the highest window of his father's palace onto the edge of the well below: which when his mother saw, stirred by sudden grief, crying out with a loud voice, she commended him with the whole affection of her heart to the blessed servant of God St. Nicholas; wherefore she was suddenly heard: for the boy fell to the ground without any injury or harm; and thanks were rendered to God for so great a favor and benefit obtained through the merits and patronage of the glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino.
[421] Martin, son of Novella, of Castel San Ginesio, having fallen from a certain ass, his head being dashed against the ground, likewise he heals another dragged by a beast. and his feet entangled in the rope of the panniers, was dragged for a stone's throw, and thereupon, most grievously mauled in the forehead and from the head to the hip, lay for five days without speech and without food, drink, and sight. The physicians judging that he could not be healed, his mother commended him to the glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and vowed to visit his chest with bound hands together with her son, and to offer two candles of the same length as her son. The vow being made, two Augustinian Brethren appeared by night to the sleeping mother, one of whom seemed to be St. Nicholas; and when she then awoke, the aforesaid Martin began to speak, to be better, and to eat, and the mother carried him, as he was recovering, to the Saint's chest; but he could not yet see, and he lay there the whole night: and in the morning he began to perceive the light, and was wholly healed, and returned on foot of his own accord with his mother to Castel San Ginesio.
[422] Persons afflicted with hectic fever, Bartoluccius, son of Alisa, of the village of St. John, now of the town of Cingoli (each place is of the March of Ancona), so suffered from a hectic fever that he had already been brought by it to extremity. His mother prayed St. Nicholas as a Saint that by his prayers he would obtain health for her son from God; and she promised to visit his tomb and to encircle his altar with wax candles. Her prayers ended, not so much time passed as one would take to cover five miles before he spoke, which he had not been able to do before; and afterwards he survived more than fourteen years.
[423] with a long-continued swelling of the body, Thomas, son of Gentilis, of the farm of Bragugnano, for four years so swelled that physicians and medicines availed him nothing: after this he vowed to visit with bound hands the chest or sepulchre in which the body of the glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino rests, and within eight days, reckoning from the day on which he should be healed, to offer one wax candle of forty solidi; and presently, bound in the manner that has been said, he rode on horseback to Tolentino, and lay one night near the chest; and on the next morning, being wholly freed from the disease, he went out of the church cheerful and returned on foot to Camerino. But when eight days had passed, and he had not yet offered what he had promised, he began to be attacked again by fever: wherefore, returning to Tolentino and fulfilling his vow at the chest, he was made safe and whole.
[424] and with dropsy, delivered. Brother Francis of Norcia (Norcia is a small city in Umbria), having suffered dropsy for three months, which the physicians had tried in vain to drive away, prayers being poured out and a vow made to offer to St. Nicholas for his health a waxen image, was freed from that disease by God through the life, prayers, and merits of the same glorious St. Nicholas, according to his faith and constancy.
[425] A grave evil of the throat, In chapter XI, concerning an evil of the throat driven away from a certain woman, and other sick persons healed, he has this: Margarita of Urbisaglia (a village of the March of Ancona) was afflicted for twelve years with a grave evil of the throat, nor could she be healed by any human remedy. She therefore prayed God and his Mother the glorious Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas of Tolentino for her health, promising to visit his chest and to present a silken veil and a wax candle of her own size. These prayers being ended, she began to be thoroughly better, and within the space of one month was wholly healed without any medicine. This benefit appears doubtful, unless perhaps in the space of twelve years the evil had so taken root that it could not have been naturally cured. I proceed to others.
[426] Servita, wife of Gentiluccius, of Tolentino, while she was still a little girl, and scrofula was seized with scrofula. Now scrofula is a certain swelling of the glands, which arises from a phlegmatic matter, and sometimes itself hardens as it were into glands, and is wont to arise in the neck, throat, armpits, and groin, as may be seen at length in Gorræus in his Medical Definitions. Now the Saint, while he lived, being asked by her mother, had touched the girl's ill-affected throat and had made over it the sign of the holy Cross: but after the death of St. Nicholas, on a certain Saturday of the same year, in the evening she vomited up a part of the said scrofula, and another part at the same hour on the Sunday following, and at last coughed up all the remainder about the same time on the Monday, and was made wholly clean and whole.
[427] Master Verinus, son of master Gualteronius, of San Severino, various had for twelve years suffered scrofula in his throat and breast, nor had he been able to be cured by various physicians and by the help of medicine and of baths. At last with great devotion and faith he vowed to God and to the glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino that, if he recovered, he would offer all his garments at the Saint's chest, and would every year on his vigil eat only bread and water, and on the feast day itself would likewise, as far as he could, visit his church every year. The vow being made, by the divine mercy and the patronage and merits of the glorious St. Nicholas he began to be better, and within the space of one month all the sores utterly vanished: nor did he ever suffer from that evil thereafter. In Albericius, after the word "breast," in Italian petto, there is read also cedole, which word in Latin means a bond or a note; wherefore I do not know what he meant to designate there, unless perhaps an error has crept in.
[428] Gentilis Accoramboni of Montelupone (a village of the often-mentioned March), when he had been afflicted with scrofula for twelve years, Swellings and in his whole lifetime could not be healed by the help of any physician or medicine, though he had tried many, bound himself by a vow to St. Nicholas, promising that he would visit the sepulchre in which his sacred body lay; and with great devotion and faith he came to his church and rested the whole night near the chest: but in the morning by the divine Clemency he found himself sound and free.
[429] Margarita, wife of master Berardus of Tolentino, had suffered most grievous pains in the right side of her body; abscesses for she suffered from an abscess. She, while she washes herself with the water with which the blessed servant of God St. Nicholas had been washed after his death, was suddenly delivered, and, the abscess having burst and opened of its own accord, came off safe and whole by the divine mercy. Perhaps this is that same Catharine who had obtained not one benefit from the Saint while he lived, and had washed the hands and feet of the dead man, as may be read in the first Life from num. 34 to the end of chap. 4.
[430] Francisca, a nun of the monastery of St. Lucy of Castel San Ginesio, had for more than twelve years borne in her belly an abscess healed: which had formed three heads and ran with much matter; and when she profited nothing by human remedies, of which she had applied very many, she most humbly commended herself to the glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and made a vow, and with bound hands came to honor his chest, and lay there one night: and when morning came, by the divine clemency and the patronage and merits of the glorious St. Nicholas she returned whole to her monastery, and always lived free of that evil.
[431] evils of the legs Gentiluccius of Castel San Ginesio had a thorn fixed in the knee of his left leg, whence that whole part had so swollen that for the space of six months he could by no means move it, nor walk, nor raise himself, nor sit, and the physicians utterly despaired. He therefore commended himself to God and to the glorious St. Nicholas and made a vow, and had himself carried by horse (by cart, I suppose) to his chest, where, when he had passed the night with a waxen leg offered, in the morning he found the leg healed, and returned on foot to Castel San Ginesio.
[432] cured: The lord Frederick, chaplain at St. George's of Macerata, was for more than three years tormented by a certain evil which had three heads in his right leg; which, since in the physician's judgment it seemed unable to be cured, with great devotion and faith commending himself to God and to the glorious St. Nicholas and making a vow, he had himself carried to his chest, and after offering a waxen leg placed his own leg in the window of the chest, which, drawing back a little after, he found to be better, and within four days sought Macerata again in safety without anyone's help.
[433] a swelling of the body dispersed: The body of Lippulus, son of Bartolus, of Matelica had for one month so swollen that for fourteen days and nights he ate nothing, and his life was feared for. Him his father, prayers being poured out, commended to the glorious St. Nicholas, vowing that he would offer him a wax candle of the same length as his son; and he was miraculously healed.
[434] dangerous of the leg Maccarellus, son of Jacomuccius, of Urbisaglia had for twenty years suffered from a fistula in the shin of his leg, by which the leg had swollen violently, and many small bones had been taken out of it. And when he perceived that neither the physicians nor the medicines availed him anything, he prayed God and his most holy Mother that through the merits of the glorious St. Nicholas he might be delivered; and he vowed to visit his chest and to offer twenty solidi. Within eight days after the vow was made, about daybreak he fell most peacefully asleep, which he had not done for a long time, and meanwhile the ulcer burst and cast out much matter, and within two months he was wholly healed,
using only a single lint plug. This healing, with its attendant circumstances, is not of such a kind that it can be held as a certain miracle.
[435] and fistulas of the arm healed A fistula had infected the right arm of Rinalducia, daughter of Marina of Foligno, which the physicians, when they inspected it, could not cure. And so her mother, commending her to God and to the glorious St. Nicholas, vowed to offer him a golden veil; whereupon she was miraculously healed.
§ XXVIII. Other diseases of various kinds healed.
[ ] Pains of the sides, stomach, and arm driven away: The often-mentioned Albericius narrates in chap. 13 yet other miracles or benefits conferred upon various persons, which, like the rest, I subjoin in Latin. Planca, wife of Maria of Tolentino, had been racked for ten years with pains of the sides, and those so stubborn that they eluded the help of physicians and medicine; but, prayers being poured out and a vow made in honor of St. Nicholas, she was suddenly healed. Flordalisa, daughter of Francis of Castel Sant'Angelo, dwelling at Tolentino, when she was enduring grievous torments of the stomach, being sprinkled with the water with which the body of St. Nicholas had been washed, was presently freed from them. Flordalisa, wife of Julius of San Severino, having suffered sharp pains in the arm for six months, vowed that, if she were healed, she would every year encircle with wax candles and with silver thread the altar where the body of the glorious St. Nicholas lay; which vow being made, she was healed and always lived in health.
[437] Bernard, bishop of the city of Camerino, being on a certain night racked with great pains of gout in his right foot, an arthritic disease mitigated when he had perceived no relief from human remedies, remembering the many favors and benefits which the Saint had obtained for wretched mortals, called upon him, and vowed that, if the pains were mitigated, he would send a waxen foot to his chest, and would himself visit it as soon as he could go on foot. The vow being made, the pains presently abated; and whereas before that time he had been troubled with that disease every month, thereafter he was free of it for more than four months. In Ferdinand Ughelli, tom. 1 of Italia sacra, I find one of this name among the bishops of Camerino, surnamed Bon-Joannes, who at col. 566 is said to have held the see of Camerino with the highest praise from the year 1537 until 1574. To him therefore this benefit, such as it is, must be said to have befallen.
[438] When Zappa Tarasius of San Severino had suffered gout for more than a month, and removed: and for three weeks a continual fever at the same time, his wife vowed for her husband's health to visit St. Nicholas's chest at Tolentino, to abstain from bread on his feast day every year, and to fast on his vigil. The vow being made, the husband began to walk, and after this miracle was never again seized with that evil. Brother Francis of Spoleto (now Spoleto is a city of Italy in Umbria), of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, had been so violently and so long racked with the same arthritic disease that not only could he not walk, but he could not even bear linen cloths laid upon his feet. But a vow being made in honor of St. Nicholas, presently all the pain vanished, nor did he ever relapse into that disease.
[439] Rinalducius, son of Andrew, of Tolentino was for eight days so afflicted with a grave evil of the heart of the heart that he believed he would die, and the physicians despaired of his life, and he could take no rest and could scarcely speak. He, calling upon St. Nicholas with the inmost affection of his heart, promised that, if he were freed from that disease and pain, he would presently hasten to honor the Saint's chest and would present a wax candle of ten solidi. After this he seemed to himself to feel a hair falling from his heart down within his body, and presently all the pain vanished, and he was wholly healed.
[440] Angeluccius, son of Nerus, of Florence, dwelling at San Severino, having suffered for twenty months sharp pains of the stomach, which was much agitated, and torments of the stomach driven off: when he found no relief from medicines, after prayers bound himself by a vow to carry with bare feet to the chest of the glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino a candle of five pounds, and to fast every year on his vigil, and to go bareheaded to his tomb, or to some other place in which his feast was kept. When he had made this vow and had earnestly commended himself to God and to his holy servant Nicholas, he grew quiet and began to be better, and recovered without any medicine or human help.
[441] Bartholomæa, daughter of Manfredinus, of Tolentino, when she had suffered a day and a night from spasm, and the physician had determined to "cook" her (that is, to purge her with a hot bath), spasm and gangrene healed: her mother refused, and with great devotion and faith commended her to the glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino and made a vow; and thus without a bath the spasm ceased and the girl was healed. Indiola, wife of Mucarellus, of San Severino, had from the month of May until December her mouth infected with a grave evil of gangrene, which had of its own accord so eaten away the flesh that she could not open her mouth. She, after prayers were poured out, vowed that she would go with bare feet to Tolentino, and, as soon as she should have that city in sight, would go forward with bound hands as far as the chest of the glorious servant of God St. Nicholas, and would there offer a candle of four pounds: which being done, she presently began to be better and to open her mouth, and at last, by the divine mercy and that of holy Nicholas of Tolentino, to whom she had commended herself with the inmost affection of her heart, she wholly recovered.
[442] a woman from a most grievous malady, Muta, wife of Lipponus, of Cingoli was so grievously seized with a certain evil that for three days and as many nights she was destitute of her senses and of speech. Lipponus vowed to fast every year on the vigil of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and to come with bound hands to the chest in which his holy body lies, and moreover to feed six poor persons. This vow being made, the sick Muta suddenly vomited up a red worm one palm long, and by the divine grace and the protection of holy Nicholas was freed from that evil.
[443] others from the torment of the teeth Peter, son of Mark, of the farm of Cupi (Zacconius reads Clepi) had endured sharp torments of the mouth and jaws, to remove which he had in vain had two of his teeth pulled out. But when afterwards he had most devoutly commended himself to St. Nicholas, and had vowed to come to his chest with the gift of a wax garland, on the following night he was wholly freed from that torment. The lord Amidus of Tolentino, doctor of law, afflicted with a like torment of the teeth, earnestly prayed God, and with the utmost devotion and faith besought the patronage of the glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino. On the following night, at his first sleep, St. Nicholas appeared to him and kindly asked which tooth pained him. The sick man, laying his finger on the tooth, replied, This one; and presently St. Nicholas seemed to him to make over it the sign of the most holy Cross. The sick man, waking, and finding himself free of all pain, rendered many thanks to the divine Majesty and to his glorious patron St. Nicholas of Tolentino.
[444] a boy delivered from the itch, Marchesina, daughter of master Nicholas, being so racked with the sharpest torments and fury of the teeth that she could rest not even a little either by day or by night, on a certain day entered the church of St. Augustine at Ancona, and there, prostrate upon her knees before the altar of St. Nicholas, commended herself to him with her whole heart's affection, earnestly asking that by his merits she might be freed from so great an evil; whence also she was suddenly and miraculously healed. Dominic, son of Flordalisa, wife of Francis of San Severino, a boy of twelve years, had his feet infected with a hard and rough itch. Prayers being poured out, and a vow made of carrying the boy to the tomb of St. Nicholas and there presenting a candle of the same length as he, he was healed eight days later without the help of any medicine.
[445] a woman in labor relieved: offspring obtained, In chapter 14 the same Albericius has this: Saccuccia, a neighbor of Margarita of Camerino, laboring in childbirth, thought she was dying: but a vow being made by the aforesaid Margarita, by which she had bound herself to visit the chest of St. Nicholas with bound hands and bare feet, she began to speak, which she had not done before, and was delivered. Philip Arma, a very rich merchant of Naples, when he could beget no son by his wife, prayed St. Nicholas, and vowed that, if he begot a son, he would call him Nicholas, and every year, as long as he lived, would give one dish to the Brethren of Naples on his feast day. And he obtained what he had asked, and begot a son by his wife, who was named Nicholas, and lived. Pina, wife of Vannus of Matelica, when after many years passed with her husband she had in the meantime borne no offspring, vowed to St. Nicholas that, if she bore a son, she would give him his name. After the vow was made she conceived a daughter in the same month. Thus Albericius, unless perhaps for figlivola, a daughter, we should read figlivolo, a son.
[446] When Ciccus Aresto of San Severino had begotten many sons, and preserved: who had all died, he vowed to St. Nicholas that, if a son were born to him and continued to live, he would call him by the name of Nicholas, and would offer as much wax at his chest as the son weighed. Besides, he added that he would not at all resist if, when he was grown, he should desire to embrace the Order of the Hermits. After a few days his wife bore a son, who survived.
[447] I add certain other things which are reported here and there by the praised writer. a madman restored to his mind, a dying man to his senses: In chapter 8, concerning a certain frenzied man brought back to a sound mind by the help of our Thaumaturge, he says thus: John Salimbeni of Matelica was furious and of unsound mind, and had once tried and wished to kill his wife: but when she had vowed to offer seven ells of linen cloth at the chest of St. Nicholas, he was freed from that evil and restored to his former health. In chapter 14 he sets forth another cure of a dying boy. A certain boy, he says, in the city of Feltre (in the March of Treviso) was giving up his soul; and he was already believed to have expired and was accounted dead: but after his mother had commended him with pious tears to St. Nicholas, the boy, no otherwise than if he had awakened from sleep, was restored to his senses, and his mother, overflowing with joy, gave thanks to God and to holy Nicholas.
[448] Margarita, wife of master John of Camerino, having suffered for three weeks from sharp hemorrhoids, hemorrhoids cured: by which she was allowed neither to lie down, nor to sleep, nor to do anything, vowed to St. Nicholas that, if she were delivered, she would visit his chest and would encircle it with silver thread: after this she suddenly fell asleep, and, waking a little after, found herself as sound as if she had never suffered from any disease; and after this miracle she always enjoyed the best health. Francis, son of Reynald, son of Berardus, was afflicted for six months with a flux of blood, nor had he gained any relief from the physicians' help: at last he called upon St. Nicholas, promising that he would carry one wax candle to his chest, and he was suddenly healed.
[449] John, son of Francis, had been seized with so violent a fever a fever driven off: that from faintness he lay without a pulse of the artery and without hope of life, and could not move himself. Meanwhile his father called upon the help of St. Nicholas, and, setting his son on a horse, sent him to honor the Saint's chest; and there he recovered his health and, riding without others' help, returned home. I do not understand how John, if he was really as weak as is said, could be carried on horseback to the Saint's tomb. After this Albericius says that it is established from the Process that many cattle,
the Saint being invoked by their owners, were healed; but he reviews none in particular.
[450] Finally the punishment which a certain woman had incurred, whether for a lie or for contempt, a woman chastised for contempt of the Saint's cult: and her repentance and healing, he subjoins in these words. The lady Joanna, wife of Francis of San Severino, when she was invited by a certain neighbor to go on St. Nicholas's own feast to Tolentino for the sake of honoring the chest, refused, pleading sickness. But in that same space of time she began to have pain in her whole left side; and, thinking that this befell her as punishment for the lie by which she had falsely called herself sick, she at once set out on the journey to be present at the festivity. Nor did the torments cease along the way; but when, having entered the church, she had offered at the Saint's chest a candle of her own length, they suddenly vanished, and she, giving thanks to God and praising the glorious St. Nicholas, sought her home again.
[451] A dying Augustinian is suddenly healed: I subjoin here three other cures, of which one is reported by Ambrose of Siena in Scipio Jardinus in this manner. Before me, master Ambrose of Siena, though an unworthy professor of most sacred theology, a miracle of the divine Nicholas of this kind shone forth: namely, that when a certain brother of our Hermit Order, Baptista of San Gimignano, dwelling in our convent, a man conspicuous for admirable probity, was being sharply and bitterly racked with burning fevers, so far that for three days and nights he lay in his agony without speech, food, and drink, and moreover without any rising or falling of the body in the artery — that is, without pulse — and, what seems incredible to say, even without breath and the comfort of respiration; so that talk arose among the Brethren in what place it were more fitting that he should be committed to burial: as I was returning thither to the sick man, a certain Brother Salvatorius of Monte San Savino commended him to St. Nicholas with a kneeling of all charity; and immediately the sick man, endowed with the faculty of speech, broke out into these words: Praise and thanksgiving be to God the Maker of all things, and to St. Nicholas himself, who appeared to me and made me whole: and rising forthwith from his bed, he was no further vexed by the torment of sickness or by any languor.
[452] The Prior general of the Order of St. Augustine Another benefit Torelli records in his Annals at the year of Christ 1510, num. 5, where he ascribes to St. Nicholas the cure of the very Reverend Father Giles Canisius, Master general of his Order, in words which I render from the Italian into Latin. The good Giles, feeling himself violently worn by disease, and the physicians persisting in their opinion, by which they had said that he would die of it, ordered himself to be clothed in the Religious habit and to be laid from his bed upon the ground; and there, the most holy Sacrament having been received with the utmost devotion, he laid down the government with the seal of the Order into the hands of the Procurator general, who was then present.
[453] recovers from a dangerous illness. Then, having most humbly prayed God's pardon for his sins and offenses and errors, which he might have committed against the common good of the Order and of his sons and brethren, turning to the most blessed Virgin, his great Patroness, and to the glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and to the other Saints whom he most venerated, he implored with earnest prayers their most present help and patronage. And indeed he shortly experienced the effect of his prayer: for on the XXX day of the said month of August, which was the fifteenth of his sickness, contrary to the physician's judgment, he had already escaped all danger, not without a miracle in the judgment both of the physician and of other prudent men. Yet I do not see in this cure a certain miracle; unless perhaps the circumstances of the illness and of the recovered health were such as made the miracle certain.
[454] Finally the third is read in Ludovicus Zacconius, part 2 of the Life, chap. 3, A certain other Augustinian, whose words I set forth in Latin. It pleases me here at last to report a certain singular apparition which occurred at this time, which was of this kind: In the year of our Lord MDCX a certain Father, a Religious of our Order, at Argenta, which is a place of some name in the duchy of Ferrara, had fallen into a sickness, which indeed grew so violently worse that he was believed without doubt to be about to die. The sick man had already heard the physicians asserting this very thing: whence, the disease growing worse day by day, he did not doubt that it was all over with him; when at last, to come to the matter, from the month of August in which he had contracted the disease, to the vigil of St. Nicholas, which falls on the XIX (rather, the IX) day of September, he says silently: O my glorious St. Nicholas, behold, today thy vigil, tomorrow thy feast is celebrated: in past years I have always kept this, and have always celebrated thy holy Mass with that devotion which the Lord granted me, as thou knowest; but this year I cannot do that (he was speaking of the vigil), nor shall I be more able to celebrate thy Mass: thou seest to what I am reduced.
[455] Having said this, he did nothing further, save that, as he said it between noon and evening, no one being then present in the room, lying dangerously ill, [ by the Saint,] he took a little sleep: and while he was resting half asleep, St. Nicholas, entering his chamber and coming to the bed, first greeted him with these words: O my devout servant. And then he said: Here, take this note and read it. And the Saint seemed to him to open a certain box and to show him a note drawn from it, and to say what we have reported. And he, unrolling that note, found in it the most holy name Jesus; whence, struck with fear, he suddenly said: Woe is me, wretched! this is the bond of death; I am undone! Whereupon he — namely St. Nicholas — replied: Do not call thyself wretched; give it me; thou art mistaken, and knowest nothing. This bond, or note, howsoever thou wilt call it, is not a sign of death but of the health which I have obtained for thee. Take courage then, and doubt not that thou art healed and freed from every evil: and having said this he disappeared.
[456] And at that same time that sick Religious, awaking and full of joy, rises whole, began to say to himself: And surely it is true that St. Nicholas was with me: upon my faith, I do not lie: and presently, calling those who were tending him, he said: Ho there, ho, run up, listen: where are you lingering? Come and hear. Hereupon they, entering the chamber, asked: What means this unwonted gladness of thine? But he said: Be silent, you do not know what it is. The holy father Nicholas of Tolentino came to me, and said that I am healed: and so it is; I feel nothing amiss. Now this was not an empty vision or a deceiving dream: for at the same time, his strength and speech being recovered (at which indeed his attendants marveled not a little), raising himself he sat up in bed, and, taking his clothes, put them on, against the will of all, who thought that he was being agitated with frenzy.
[457] That day, clothed in his garments, he kept within the house and did not go out: and, all marveling, but in the evening the physician, coming, found him free of every evil; and, having heard what he related concerning St. Nicholas, said: He has granted thee a vast benefit; for otherwise it had been all over with thee. On the day following that on which he received his health, the rest resisting, he set out on the journey toward Tolentino: and at whatever convent he turned aside along the way, to everyone who beheld him he seemed a man just now raised from the tomb, and therefore all, moved with pity, said: Alas, Father, Brother N., whence comest thou to us so like a dying man? Truly this is to wish to expire upon the road: go no further; stay here; otherwise thou wilt die on the journey. So those Fathers, familiars and friends, spoke, because they beheld him with so lean and pale a face from the grave illness under which he had labored, and did not know what had happened to him.
[458] he sets out for Tolentino. But he answered each: You do not know the cause: and, setting forth his vision and the Saint's apparition as it had happened, he drew tears from all who heard; and then at last they too said: Go to Tolentino before thou return to thy monastery. I could here set down the man's name and native place: but since he is still alive among the living, we follow that counsel: Praise after death, magnify after the end. St. Ambrose, Sermon LXIX. Thus far Zacconius.
§ XXIX. He succors captives, those seized by robbers, and those condemned to death: he wonderfully rescues an innocent man from the extreme penalty.
[ ] The Saint saves a man unjustly condemned: That he was at hand also to those in bonds and condemned to death who implored the help of our holy Thaumaturge we have from the often-mentioned Albericius, chap. 9, from which I here transfer the following in Latin. A certain nobleman of Milan, falsely accused of treason against right and justice, was cast into prison, and, being diligently interrogated and examined, at length, afflicted by the force of tortures and torments, the wretched man confessed what he had not done, and without any mercy was condemned to lose his head. His wife, by whom he was most tenderly loved, with great tears and greater devotion and faith commended him to St. Nicholas of Tolentino, whom she earnestly venerated, that he might defend his uprightness and innocence. The Saint therefore often kindly appeared both to the woman and to the captive nobleman, and accompanied him to the place of punishment. O great prodigy, to be remembered by all ages! Whatever the executioner did, he tried in vain to hurt him: wherefore, when it was perceived that these things were not being done without the power of God, he was led back to the prison to the wonder of all, and, the man's innocence being afterwards recognized, he was dismissed free.
[460] another innocent man; Another Venetian nobleman was brought under great guard and precaution from Padua to Venice, and was falsely accused out of envy: and when his wife, most loving of her husband, bathed in tears, had most devoutly and with living faith commended him to the glorious and blessed Nicholas of Tolentino, on the next morning he was miraculously brought out of prison through the merits of the same Saint, and his innocence was afterwards also proved. And in memory of this miracle a wax candle is wont to be lighted every year on the vigil of the Saint's feast day before his marble statue, which is honored in the church of the Hermit Brethren of the Order of St. Augustine. Both miracles are read also in the little work of Ambrose of Siena in Jardinus, where it is said that the very man upon whom the benefit had been conferred sent the said wax candle, of the same size as himself, to Venice every year. Now let us return to Albericius.
[461] When James, son of Petruccius, of Sarnano (a village of the March of Ancona), and frees two others from prison: now an inhabitant of Tolentino, had stolen an ox, being seized and brought with the said ox to Ascoli (a city of the same March), he was shut up bound with fetters in a dreadful prison for eight months. Since St. Nicholas often appeared to him, he commended his cause to him, promising that, if he came forth free from the said prison, he would offer a wax candle at his chest and would encircle it with wax. The vow being made, before he could add a word, St. Nicholas suddenly appeared and said: Rise and go out of the prison; for I have opened the doors for thee. And while this captive was telling this to another captive, who was called Placentinus of Ascoli, and who fifty
pounds weight of chain, with which his neck, arms, and the rest of his body were bound, and had been condemned to prison; and when the said Placentinus had replied: Ah, I have just now dreamed that I was freed by him from this captivity and prison — the chains at once fell from his neck, body, and hands; and trying the doors of the prison and finding them unbarred, they burst forth outside. Then they likewise tried a second gate, which they found without a guard, and, breaking it, they escaped prodigiously out of the prison and the city.
[462] The lord Bernard, son of the lord John, judge of Pollenza (Pollenza is a town of the March of Ancona), and two of his household, he succors those taken by robbers while making a journey through the territory of Perugia, were seized by robbers, stripped of their garments, robbed of twenty-six florins, and bound in different places in their houses. These being thus placed, the lord Bernard commended himself to St. Nicholas, vowing that he would visit his chest with gifts brought, if he and his companions escaped. After the vow was made, the same lord Bernard by the divine help was suddenly loosed from his bonds without any work of his own or of others, and in the midst of the guards likewise loosed his companions; and, taking back their garments and horses, they escaped safe and unhurt and continued the journey they had begun.
[463] A certain man of Tolentino, seized by robbers and dragged into the territory of Piccino, he succors: was, with hands and feet bound, shut up in a barn. But while he was being carried off thither, he had called upon St. Nicholas; whence also he appeared to him about dawn, and, taking him out of his bonds and laying hold of his hand, led him into the road, saying: Go to Neja (Montecchio), and not to Tolentino; for so shalt thou escape. Like to these are the things which he narrates in chap. 13 in this manner in Italian: A certain merchant, excellently affected toward St. Nicholas, fell among robbers, and, beaten by them with cudgels and stripped, was bound to a tree. But while those rascals were deliberating about killing him, he silently called upon St. Nicholas, and deserved to be heard: for, the robbers being prodigiously lulled to sleep, he was loosed from the tree by the Saint appearing to him, recovered his garments, his horse, and his money-bags, and, amid due thanksgivings to God and to his glorious Saint, fled away. Hither likewise pertains what is added in the same place. Peter, son of Vannuccius, of Cingoli, when, being held by robbers, he had been wounded with sixteen blows, the greater part of which were mortal, vowed a waxen image to St. Nicholas: which being done, he began to be better and was restored to entire health. I return to chap. XI.
[464] a man undeservedly condemned to prison, When the lord Accursius, doctor of law, of Tolentino, then chief judge of Florence, had been imprisoned by order of the supreme magistracy of the city, without hope of recovering his liberty, on account of a captive who had escaped from prison without his fault or fraud, he devoted himself to St. Nicholas, asking that either by some means he should escape of his own accord, or should be publicly freed. And not in vain; for, God so disposing on account of the merits of St. Nicholas, without difficulty and expense, in a council opportunely gathered at that time contrary to custom, he was within three days acquitted of the crime laid upon him by a public sentence.
[465] another taken by enemies, James, son of Bononus, of Macerata, being taken by the enemies of the Church and by the lords marquises, was brought to Mogliano (a village of the March of Ancona) and cast into prison, and was there kept eighteen days. And on the nineteenth day of September, by night, he vowed to God and to holy Nicholas that, if he were freed from that prison, he would offer at the Saint's chest the iron bonds with which he had his feet fettered, together with a wax candle, and would there have an image of the Saint painted, and moreover would fast every year on his vigil. This vow being made, he began to work his hands out of the bonds, and, finding by chance an axe, struck the fetters, yet in such a way that the guards lying round about heard nothing of the kind. Then, the sharp iron of the fetter being broken through, he freed one foot, and, having bound the said fetter to the other leg, he opened the door of the house, and, walking unobserved through the midst of the guards and of the village, he came that same night to Macerata.
[466] a third, having falsely confessed a crime by force of the rack, Berardus, son of Nuccius, of Pollenza, falsely accused of a homicide which he had not committed, was consigned to the prison of Pollenza; and when from fear of tortures he had said that he was guilty of the aforesaid homicide, and therefore had been most tightly bound to a certain plank with ropes, fetters, and chains, he earnestly prayed SS. Nicholas and Venantius to lull his guards to sleep until he should have escaped; and to that end he promised that every year on his feast day he would visit with bare feet and bound hands the chest in which his sacred body rests, would avoid all mortal sins, and moreover would encircle the chest with wax, or at least pay as much in value.
[467] freed by his help: The vow being made, and the guards of the prison by whom he was watched being oppressed with deep sleep, he began to free himself from the said bonds, and, the fetters being loosed, coming to the first gate he found it open; the second also, being only lightly barred, he opened with easy effort; and when he had put his hand to the third, it fell back upon him. And going forth outside, he met his own enemy; who, although he knew him well, was nevertheless ready to help him hasten his flight, and led him to a certain channel, through which he happily departed from the territory of Pollenza free of all harm. Thus Frigerius or Albericius; and if these things are true, it must be by no less a miracle than all the rest that Bernard's bonds were loosed.
[468] likewise he opens the prison to another. Thomasuccius, son of Walter, of Tolentino, shut up in the prison of Tolentino for a year, when he could obtain his liberty neither by the help of his parents nor by the favor of friends, often most humbly and devoutly besought the glorious St. Nicholas to lead him out of that dark dungeon; and as many times the Saint appeared to him in sleep, consoling him and bidding him not to fear or to distrust; for he should shortly be freed, namely in the same month in which he had been thrown into it. And indeed on a certain Thursday toward night, finding the doors of the prison miraculously opened, the guards being lulled asleep, he passed safely through the midst of them and through the territory of Tolentino, earnestly rendering the highest thanks to God and to holy Nicholas of Tolentino.
[469] Memorable also is what I subjoin from the same Albericius, chap. 6. and another innocent man, When at Perugia a certain man had been murdered, and this had become known to the whole city, the officers of the magistracy used all diligence in searching out the murderer; but in vain; for he had suddenly slipped away and lay hid. Meanwhile it happened that, when the officers saw a certain man fleeing or running, suspecting that he was the murderer himself, they led him away captive. But he, overcome by the torments of the rack, confessed that the homicide had been done by him, although he had by no means perpetrated it: but since he felt himself unequal to bearing the torments, he had determined with himself that it was better to die once than to perish by a thousand torments. Having therefore confessed the homicide, he was condemned to lose his head.
[470] And when he had already been brought to the place of punishment, from the executioner's blows turning to prayer he prayed thus: O glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino, I beseech thee by the charity of our Lord Jesus Christ that, as I am guiltless of another's blood, so thou wouldst deign to make plain the efficacy of thy miracles, that I may not so unjustly perish. And if thou free me, O glorious Saint, behold, I vow to serve in thy monastery for one year without any reward. After this, at the command of the officer of the court, he laid his neck upon the deadly block, and presently the executioner, at a given signal, struck three times with force with a wooden mallet upon the axe that had been set in place; but his neck being wholly unhurt, the wood and the axe flew apart into pieces. The officer, noticing this, ordered another block to be brought at once; but no otherwise than before, after the executioner's third blow, the wood and the axe were likewise broken into many pieces.
[471] And when nevertheless another block again had been brought at the officer's order, he keeps unhurt the condemned man said: Know, sir, that I have such a name over me that, even if thou shouldst turn all swords against me, thou wouldst accomplish nothing. The officer therefore, suspecting that he had a certain note or magical amulet about him, ordered him, stripped of his garments and almost naked, to place his neck again under the axe. Then indeed the condemned man spoke thus: O impious and unbelieving men! I called upon St. Nicholas of Tolentino, that as I am clean of the crime laid upon me, so he would free me; and behold, he does not permit me to die unjustly; for I feel his hand laid upon my neck, that I may not be hurt by the axe. Hearing of so great a miracle, the people began as it were to riot and to murmur against the aforesaid officers, saying that it was a crime that a just man should be condemned to death.
[472] But the officer, silence being commanded for a little, replied: he preserves. Brethren, hear: this man says that he is unjustly suffering this punishment, and therefore that St. Nicholas is helping him: let us try again whether it be true; and if he escape a third blow unhurt, let him go free; for then the miracle will be established. O unbelief of a hard heart! He orders the captive to be laid flat on the ground, and the executioner dealt him three blows again; but the wood and the iron flew apart again into a thousand pieces as before, and the innocent man remained unhurt. At last, the stupendous miracle being acknowledged, the officer with his men, leaping down from his horse, prostrated himself at the innocent man's feet and asked pardon, which he easily obtained. Then indeed, amid the applause of the people praising God and the glorious St. Nicholas, he was led back honorably into the city, and, being restored to his former liberty, hastened to Tolentino and made known the great miracle, and, fulfilling his promises, served the Hermit Brethren there for a year without any wage. Thus far Frigerius or Albericius, who professes that both these things and the rest which we have reported from him were drawn from the Summary of miracles which is kept at Tolentino.
§ XXX. The ancient custom of blessing loaves in honor of St. Nicholas, divinely approved by many miracles, some of which are reviewed.
[ ] Whence arose the custom Most celebrated is the use of bread blessed in honor of our St. Nicholas, confirmed by many miracles, of which we must now treat in this and the following paragraphs. In the Life written by Fr. Peter of Monte Rubiano, chap. 3, num. 21 and the two following, we saw that the Saint, while he lay grievously sick, was refreshed by the most glorious Mother of God and by holy Augustine, and, at her command having taken a morsel of bread which he had dipped in a little water, suddenly recovered. That from this prodigy that custom of blessing bread arose, the authors who have written upon this subject everywhere relate. Let us hear one out of many, Fr. Nicholas de Tombeur, the Belgian Augustinian, discoursing in Appendix 6 to the Latin Life.
[474] of blessing loaves in the Saint's honor: From the miraculous apparition, he says, of the Virgin Mother of God, made to St. Nicholas when he was most dangerously sick, and from the benefit of the begged bread dipped in water, he being presently restored to health, … there grew up in the Augustinian family the custom that loaves blessed with sacred prayers should be distributed, whose salutary effects in driving away diseases and sorceries, in calming storms, in quenching fires, human life throughout all the world experiences daily. Various writers relate that that bread, of which St. Nicholas had tasted only a small piece, by the same man who had experienced its power
was distributed out of charity to other sick persons, and produced the same effect of health; and that, when that bread was consumed, he himself, compelled by the prayers of the citizens and neighbors, blessed other loaves as long as he survived, and after his death the Priors of the convent did so — which were a singular remedy in all adversities and diseases. But of this tradition no authentic testimony has hitherto come into my hands. Thus he, rightly doubting of that tradition: for indeed you would find no foundation of it in the Life by Peter of Monte Rubiano, or in Jordan of Saxony. I do not doubt, however, that that custom of blessing bread, at whatever time it was begun, arose from the Saint's prodigious cure through the use of bread, of which in the Life just praised. Let us return to Tombeur.
[475] However that may be, he continues, this is most certain, that Eugenius IV after the canonization of St. Nicholas, by an express Bull in the year MCDXLVI, which by the sacred Congregation of Cardinals either approved a custom already long since introduced, or granted anew to the Religious of our Order, under a certain form and prescribed rite, license to bless loaves solemnly in honor of St. Nicholas, especially on his festivity, the X of September. And that no one else can bless them save by the express faculty of the Superiors of our Order, the sacred Congregation of Cardinals declared on repeated occasions in the years MDCXXII and MDCXXVII. That the use of blessing and taking the bread was approved and praised by Pope Eugenius IV, Torelli also relates in his Annals, and others; but they produce no instrument by which to prove it. The Bull which Tombeur here records I have found neither in Laertius Cherubinus in the Roman Bullarium nor in Empolius in the Augustinian Bullarium, and it seems to have been unknown to Torelli, since he at least makes no express mention of it.
[476] In the Bull of canonization also, given in the year 1446 by the Pontifical reckoning, is permitted to the Augustinian Superiors alone: or in the year 1447 by the common reckoning, Eugenius records nothing of these loaves. Perhaps among the three hundred miracles which were laid before Eugenius some were obtained by the use of the said bread, and in this way the use of blessing and taking the same bread was approved by him. Nevertheless, since Tombeur may have had at hand a Bull unknown to others, I would not dare to deny his assertion. More certain are the things which he subjoins concerning the twofold decree of the sacred Congregation of Cardinals; for Empolius sets forth both in the Bullarium, p. 386 and the following; from which we learn that the said Sacred Congregation, at the request of the procurator general of the Hermit Fathers of St. Augustine, forbade certain confraternities of laymen, which had arrogated to themselves the faculty of blessing and distributing the said bread, to presume this thereafter, and enacted that that power belonged to the superiors of the praised Order of St. Augustine alone.
[477] Now, from wheresoever the use of this sacred bread is to be traced, and it is certainly ancient, and approved by many miracles: it is established that it is ancient and divinely approved by countless benefits and miracles. Baptista of Mantua, in the metrical Life, tracing that custom likewise from the deed of St. Nicholas, introduces the most glorious Mother of God speaking with the Saint, and thus enumerates in a certain general review the prodigious effects of the said bread.
A woman who is neighbor to your dwelling, about to draw the wheaten grain [*] from the hot oven, carries a basket on her shoulder: send (and let there be no delay) a servant to fetch the bread, and speak the consecrated words over it; then eat; at once thou shalt be healed, the disease driven off which the shades of Tartarus have sent into thy vitals; thus canst thou drive away the snares, thus the violence of Avernus. She spoke, and so bestowed entire health. This custom the descendants of the Old Man kept after his death: for with a like rite they are wont every year to consecrate the grain and to give it to the people, when the holy feasts have come round again on his birthday; with such a medicine they put to flight every kind of disease, thus they keep off demons: thus they heal the womb, they cure creeping ulcers, they restore eyes, thus they drive off thunderbolts; they calm the tempests of the air and the angry seas, they preserve sailors caught in a whirlwind, and they check the other ills of human life.
That Mantuan sang these things truly, the miracles which we subjoin, gathered from various sources, testify.
[478] by its use a girl recovers, Ambrose of Siena in Jardinus, chap. XI and the following, narrates the following on this subject: A certain girl in the city of Venice, in the street of St. Raphael, had for six years been so utterly forsaken by bodily health, and so grave an infirmity pressed upon her, that she had pitifully to be rolled with sheets to right and left across the little space of her chamber and gently pushed along; and when a certain woman, endowed with garments blessed of St. Francis, had gone to visit her, she uttered words of this kind toward her: O little daughter, since neither any famed skill of physicians, nor even the choicest kind of potions or of any cure, can be of help and health to thee, turn, I pray, the prayers of thy mind toward St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and with a trusting heart humbly commend thyself to him, and without more tedious delay send to the church of St. Stephen, that the Hermit Brethren of that church may impart to thee his blessed bread, and eat it most devoutly. And when the girl had done this, in the space of six days she obtained the most perfect health. Which divine miracle of St. Nicholas master Paul, whose origin came down from the city of Trent, testified that he had received from that girl within sacramental confession.
[479] women in labor bring forth happily, Further, a woman named Gratiosa, possessing the dwelling of her home in the city of Venice, when she could by no means bring forth her child, and certain other women had brought to her memory the bread of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, with careful humility of prayers commended herself to the divine Nicholas, and ate her blessed bread with eager devotion; and forthwith she joyfully brought forth the child. And the same thing happens wonderfully day by day; namely, that if a woman sweating in labor eat this bread trustfully with a humble heart, she straightway, without further agony, happily brings forth the child.
[480] a barren woman obtains offspring; Besides, a barren woman, whose dwelling was in the street of St. Vitalis of the same city of Venice, while she was engaged in sacramental confession, out of a pious desire of fruitfulness consulted her confessor as to what could be done by her, that she might deserve to escape the affliction of barrenness and to obtain from the Lord God the joys of fruitfulness. To whom that wise father, answering, said: Go to the altar of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and trustfully commend thyself very much to that famous Saint, and take frequently of his blessed bread. And when that barren woman had done this, within the course of only fifteen days she perceived, to the most joyful gladness of her husband and of herself, that she was with child, and afterwards bore a most beautiful little son, whom she named Nicholas.
[481] fires at Padua Moreover a certain interpreter of pontifical law once related before a certain most worthy bishop — and I myself also give testimony that this rests upon the purest truth, from the clear knowledge of my own conscience — that, when that interpreter of the law, before receiving the doctoral insignia, was giving his labor to the wisdom of the sacred canons in the kindly and illustrious university of Padua, it happened by a certain chance that a whole house was burning, the flames running up to heaven; so that no hope now remained but that it would be utterly swallowed up by the fire. Wherefore at last they had sent that the bread of St. Nicholas of Tolentino might be carried to the place of the fire; and they suddenly cast it into the fiercest flames of that whole most violent and most vast fire, and at once it was quenched and vanished, and the fire grew cold; and that interpreter of the law whom we have mentioned testified that he had beheld this miracle with his own eyes.
[482] And so, when in the city of Venice again and again on different occasions two houses were burning in a fire — the one in the street of St. Paul and the other in the street of the church of the Holy Apostles — and quenched at Venice, they cast this holy bread into the flames which were devouring those houses, and at once, the flight of the flames being stayed, the fire could go no further. But also in the time of the most serene prince John Mocenigo, while the palace of St. Mark was being consumed by a notable fire, at the last the efficacious help of this blessed bread came; and when this bread was thrown into the flames, the fire came to an end, and the loftiest torches of the flames straightway and utterly vanished; and this bread has often extinguished very many fires of that kind. Francis Sansovino in the Life of John Mocenigo, duke of Venice, mentions the fire of the palace of St. Mark, which in the Venetian Chronicle he reports at the year 1479, and adds that part of the palace was saved from the flames; but of the miracle he says not a word. There is no reason, however, why we should not on that account believe Ambrose of Siena, since he is older than Sansovino and contemporary with the fire; for in Herrera in the Alphabetum Augustinianum it is read in the Registers of the Order that in the year 1478 he was already Regent of the monastery of Siena, and in the year 1483 head of the whole province. These things being observed, let us return to Jardinus, Ambrose's translator.
[483] A certain master Benedict, whose origin flowed from the city of Genoa, the sea calmed, a most celebrated preacher, reported before all, in a sermon delivered by him at Venice, this miracle which we shall presently subjoin; namely that, when the far and wide extended spaces of the Ligurian sea near that same city of Genoa were being horribly shaken with running waves by an inexplicable rage of winds and roaring of storms and by the clamorous battering of the onrushing billows, and a tempest incredible to tell had so possessed that whole Ligurian sea that now it raised the waters almost into Atlantean mountains, now sank them into exceedingly deep valleys, so that not even the port of Genoa itself was in safety, but the ships too moored in the port were held in the greatest and most evident danger; on account of which the republic of Genoa had caused public supplications to be celebrated, and even the platter or dish of the Supper of Christ, and the ashes of St. John the Baptist, to be carried in those supplications; it came about that the citizens of Genoa at last cast the bread of St. Nicholas into the surging waters, the tempest of the sea raging more angrily than can be expressed in words; and forthwith, all lingering of delay being cast off, in the twinkling of an eye the dreadful tempest departed, and a smiling serenity shone forth, and a calm tranquillity prevailed on every side.
[484] And in the year MCDXCIII, on the night which preceded the feast of St. Sebastian, ships rescued from shipwreck, [ ] ships strayed, having slipped outside the port of the city of Venice, of which the one perished, but the other, within which were two Hermit brothers who had that most holy bread of St. Nicholas, always came off free of all harm and returned into the port. And a Flemish vessel in the year MCDXCV, swallowed up in the eddy of the raging sea, pitifully perished; but the ship of the lord Peter Bragadin, with whom was this bread of the divine Nicholas, being snatched from the whirlpool and jaws of the sea, most happily made the port; and very many vessels and countless ships day by day, this most holy bread aiding them, have come off free of storms and shipwreck, which would otherwise have perished. And when rivers rise and cover with most abundant and incredible floods the bare banks and the other plains of the neighboring regions, if this most holy bread
be cast into those roaring waters, they at once return wonderfully to their own bounds and channels. What he here narrates of two ships rescued from the danger of shipwreck does not present a certain miracle, since often, while some perish, others escape: perhaps, however, their happy escape is in fact due to the Saint's protection.
[485] a madman restored to his mind; Jardinus adds that the same bread has often been happily used also for driving off thunderbolts and calming the storms of the air, and then continues in these words: Besides, a certain notary, a man conspicuous for probity, whom I myself knew (who once had run cursorily through this history of St. Nicholas), passed utterly into the camp of fury and of complete madness; so that the boys and the whole multitude of the people well knew that he was overwhelmed with folly and had slipped into the region of blind insanity. Wherefore all the Venetians who were bound to him by any tie of kinship or of former goodwill were each racked, according to his own measure, with a wondrous anguish of mind: but his own sister, throughout the ever-passing spaces of a whole year, never on a single day carefully failed to give him the bread of St. Nicholas to eat; and it came about that, having happily and most completely returned to soundness of mind, he began again to exercise the office of a notary most excellently, with the highest praise and wisdom.
[486] a dying woman restored to health; A certain woman of the street of St. Vitalis at Venice, placed at the point of death, and utterly abandoned by the help and visits of physicians as one who would very soon pass altogether from this life, made a vow to this holy Nicholas of Tolentino, and several times ate the most holy bread of that blessed Confessor of God, and bound herself by the bond of a pious promise to give out certain alms for the benefit of the convent of Valle Magnente at Pesaro (concerning which see what is said at chap. 2, letter b), from which place holy Nicholas himself had at one time drawn so many and so great souls of the faithful out of the pains of purgatory by his most pure prayers; and as soon as she had uttered the promise of her vow with a spontaneous offering of her mind, she at once happily felt herself wholly free from the sorrow of her infirmity.
[487] the author himself freed from a pestilential fever; Moreover I myself, who run through this history of the divine Nicholas, give undoubted testimony out of the clearest mirror of a Christian conscience, that when I was giving my labor to the studies of the sciences in the university of Perugia, returning from Rome I burned so violently, kindled with a certain burning Roman fever, that all men everywhere and without distinction did not doubt that I was infected with the dreadful pestilence. On account of which every single person, turning his back on me in swift departure as with a kind of flight, took to flight: which thing above all others impelled me, as soon as I found myself most wretchedly abandoned by every human creature in the world, to invoke with the inmost groaning of my heart the aid of the divine Nicholas of Tolentino, and to eat his bread devoutly, and at once (wonderful to say!) I came off wholly free from every ill.
[488] Master Marianus of Genazzano, a very famous preacher, a boy casts out the nail by which he was being choked, while he was delivering a public sermon in our Hermits' convent of the church of St. Stephen of the city of Venice, gave testimony that in the year MCDXC at Florence, on the feast day of St. Michael the archangel, when a certain devout woman had betaken herself to the aforesaid church of St. Stephen, she had left at home two little infants sleeping, who, waking and not seeing their mother, began after the manner of children to cry out with a great wailing; so that at length the elder of the little boys, to enjoin a gentle silence upon the younger, held out [*] to him an iron nail, which he at once thrusting into his throat began to be dangerously choked, and, scarcely breathing a little, feeling the agony of death, appeared black in his flesh, like a quenched coal, or like the blackest soot of a chimney.
[489] At which time the mother, returning home and beholding the horrible mishap, from his throat; roused a stir through the neighborhood with the loud sound of tears and of a plaintive voice; and forthwith a countless multitude of people ran up, by whom the nail could by no means be drawn or torn out of the boy's throat; and while no hope of safety remained, by the counsel of a certain neighbor woman who had also come together, they held out to the infant the bread of St. Nicholas of Tolentino; and when it had entered the infant's tender throat, God directed the nail which was strangling the boy, and of its own accord it came out wonderfully from his mouth.
[490] And to these is added that, when my master, Fr. Ambrose of Siena freed from a fever; namely the reverend Brother Ambrose of Siena, was languishing with the torment of a most violent fever, and therefore very many medicines were being prepared for him at the physicians' order, I at once, the drugs of so many physicians being set aside for a little, commended him more devoutly to the divine Nicholas, whom I had been accustomed to venerate with a singular cult, and offered him his blessed bread to eat; and at once he obtained the most delightful repose of his former health. And with my own eyes I have several times beheld a hundred and more persons afflicted with the languors of exceedingly various infirmities in the city of Venice, of Perugia, of Verona, of Siena, and of Tolentino, who, because of this bread, having slipped out of the manifold cord and nets of every infirmity, obtained the joy of the most perfect health.
[491] The said healing of Ambrose of Siena has, from its circumstances, no little difficulty, who was perhaps another than the author. if he was that Ambrose whose little work Jardinus translated. For since, on Herrera's testimony in the Alphabetum, that Ambrose is noted in the Registers of the Order as having been Regent of the monastery in the year 1478 and head of the whole province in the year 1483, Jardinus, who inscribed his little work, endowed with Latinity, to Pope Clement VIII in the year 1592 and printed it, could not have rendered the said service to him while sick, unless both had reached extreme old age. Much less can this be understood if it be true which is read at the end of the same Jardinus's little work; namely that the Saint's Life was printed at Venice by Ambrose of Siena as early as the year of the Lord MCDXXIV, on the VII day of March, that is 168 years before Jardinus's edition: but it is manifest that an error crept into these reckonings by the fault either of Jardinus or of the typesetter. Albericius reports the same miracle; but he speaks as though Ambrose of Siena had used the praised bread of his own accord.
The wondrous effects of the same bread After these things Jardinus continues thus concerning that salutary antidote: This is that bread which makes each one free of every manifold variety of any infirmity; it brings the possessed back to health; it wholly drives away the pestilence from almost countless men afflicted with that contagion; from the most wretched fall of the falling sickness, from swelling dropsy, from the raging pain of the flanks, from hectic fevers also, and in short from every kind whatsoever of all infirmities, it restores men to peaceful health. And if it cannot sometimes be given to infants on account of their too tender age, in such a case let the mother, or the nurse whose breasts the little infant sucks, eat of this blessed bread, and it will profit the infant.
[493] are summarily recorded. And that I may compress into a brevity of speech more pleasing to thee, candid reader, the things which I might have pursued in a fuller discourse, I would say only this in summary: that no day ever dawns but that very many miracles proceed from this bread; which is made manifest even from this, that in the city of Verona every year on the feast day of St. Nicholas four sacks, woven both of ample breadth and of extended length, are filled with this blessed bread, and it is all divided among the people; and the same general method of making the bread, and of a distribution far greater too, is kept in the city of Venice, and in every monastery everywhere, because of the unceasing miracles which holy Nicholas of Tolentino himself works day by day, by the divine will, in that his blessed bread. Thus far Ambrose of Siena, with Jardinus as translator, who, being the later, by his style luxuriating to the point of nausea raises here and there no small suspicion of exaggeration.
Annotata* i.e., the bread
* porrexerit
§ XXXI. Various other miracles obtained through the use of the blessed bread.
[ ] By the use of the blessed bread, Very many other miracles obtained by the use of the said blessed bread Ludovicus Zacconius, already often praised, published, which I subjoin from the Italian into Latin. After he had reported from Frigerius or Albericius those things which we have just now reviewed from Jardinus, he continues in this manner: Father Ambrose of Siena writes in the Life of the said Saint that the Father master Gregory of Perugia of our Order (the Hermits of St. Augustine), when in the year MCDLXXIX he had set sail from Rimini (which is a city of Italy in Romagna), about to journey to Venice, and had already been carried twenty miles out to sea, was suddenly overtaken by so great a tempest that, the yards being broken, the sails fell into the sea, and the steersman foretold certain destruction for himself.
[495] persons in peril at sea, But the good Father, by no means losing heart, bade the steersman and some merchants of Verona, who had returned from the fair at Lanciano (a city of the kingdom of Naples in the province of Hither Abruzzi), be of good hope; and then, casting the bread of the glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino into the waves, he prayed the Saint to rescue himself and his companions from shipwreck, and, often repeating his holy and blessed name, said: O glorious St. Nicholas, help us and snatch us from a most present danger of death. His prayers being at last heard, the tempest was calmed at the ninth hour, and he rendered thanks to God and to the aforesaid glorious Saint; and wherever he went to deliver sacred sermons (for he was a most excellent preacher), he made the deed known and extolled it, that he might repay the highest thanks to the Saint.
[496] After a few things which either do not pertain here, or which we have already reported in the preceding §, from a present shipwreck the praised Zacconius at last sets forth others, collected from various writers by the Father master Andrew Gelsomini of Cortona, afterwards procurator general of the whole Order, and published at Padua in the year 1619; testifying that he has used the very words of the writer, and that nothing has been added by him to them or taken away. These things therefore, reader, receive in Latin. First of all, from the Saint's Life published by Jerome Romanus, chronologer of his Order, in the year 1579, he narrates the following: When a certain Father, a priest of the Order of St. Augustine, of the province of Castile (in Spain), was sailing on the sea, so dreadful a tempest arose that all who were carried in that ship were in the utmost danger of shipwreck: for the ship, in which they had placed such hope as they had, was utterly shattered, and no hope of escaping remained in human helps. This Religious therefore, relying on God and on the holy father Nicholas of Tolentino, began somewhat to take courage, and said to all who were in the ship: My lords and brethren, lift up your minds, and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ and his most holy Virgin Mother and St. Nicholas of Tolentino, who, when piously invoked, is wont to succor in such need and dangers.
[497] When he had said this, the wretched travellers, who were more like the dead than the living, happily rescued, being somewhat revived, began to implore the mercy of God, of the most glorious Virgin, and of holy Nicholas of Tolentino, and vowed that they would have three Masses said and would each give alms according to his measure. And the Religious, after he had thus called his companions, destitute of human help, back to a better hope, took the blessed bread in his hands,
and, scattering some pieces of it here and there into the sea, with tears rising besought St. Nicholas not to forsake in so great a crisis those who implored him and had recourse to his help and protection. Wonderful to see! The bread being cast into the waves, presently certain howlings of wild beasts were heard beneath the ship; and then great birds, black and dreadful, were seen to fly away: wherefore it was believed by all that these were demons who had tried to sink the ship, and that they had been driven to flight by the said bread of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, the destruction of the ship which they had attempted being now despaired of. Then, calm being gradually restored to the sea, all, snatched from a most present danger, happily reached port, and fulfilled what they had vowed in their peril.
[498] About the year of the Lord MDXXVI in the village of Chinchón of the archbishopric of Toledo (in Spain) a vast fire broke out in a certain house, Bread of this kind extinguishes a fire, which threatened great loss not only to the goods that were burning in it but also to the neighboring houses. The Brethren of the Order of St. Augustine, who dwelt there in an honorable convent called of St. Mary of Valparaíso (in Italian, di nostra Signora da Valparadiso), also ran thither to bring help; and when certain of them had brought some blessed loaves, one of them, St. Nicholas being implored, threw one of those loaves into the midst of the fire. It pleased God to stir up the faith and devotion of this people toward this glorious Saint; for presently a great miracle appeared: for the whole fire, going no further, drew back, and, gathering itself above the blessed bread, stood like a globe or ball, and was suddenly quenched.
[499] and is found unharmed among the ashes. The fire ceasing, the blessed bread was sought, and was found among the ashes white and whole and without any injury, no otherwise than as it had been cast in. And that an everlasting memory of so prodigious an event might remain, that very loaf was sent as a gift to the excellent and exceedingly religious ladies, daughters of the Catholic king Ferdinand V, in the monastery of St. Mary Royal of Madrigal (in Italian, di S. Maria Reali di Madrille), of the same Order and habit of St. Augustine; where to this day it is preserved as a sacred relic. Of this same bread the Fathers of the convent of our Holy Father Augustine at Burgos (in Old Castile, in the kingdom of Spain) made mention besides, in the Life of St. Nicholas appended to the book of the Miracles of the most holy Crucifix of Burgos, published there in the year of the Lord MDLXXIV. The two said maidens were natural daughters of Ferdinand V, king of Spain, from stolen embraces, of whom Lucius Marineus Siculus makes mention in book 22 On the Affairs of Spain; and Torelli in his Annals at the year of Christ 1514, num. 7, where they are honored with great praises.
[500] By the use of the same, a man grievously ill is healed; In the year of the Lord MDVI, Zacconius continues, when the very religious Father, Brother Gonsalvo de Alva, presided over the Spanish province, who was the first Provincial of that observance in that region, that excellent man of austere life fell into a most grievous illness, by which he was brought to extremity and was abandoned by all the physicians as one of desperate health. There was living there at that time a certain venerable Religious, Brother James de Montacies, greatly devoted to St. Nicholas of Tolentino; who, when he saw so eminent a man, who had thrice praiseworthily governed that congregation, dying, relying on God and on the most holy Virgin Mother and on the holy father Nicholas, when he perceived that all medicines and human industry availed nothing, had recourse to divine means, and, having put a piece of the blessed bread into water, took care that the bystanders should piously recite five times the Our Father and the Hail Mary, since the sick man could not; and gave a certain particle of that bread to the sick Father to take. As soon as he had taken it, presently by the divine grace he began to be better; and when he had done this for five days, he was freed from every ill, and thus through the merits of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino prodigiously recovered the health he had desired. A girl at Ancona fallen into the sea,
[501] In chapter 30 Zacconius reports the miracles wrought through the use of the same blessed bread at Cordova in Spain in the years 1601 and 1602, concerning which consult what we have said in §17 and the following. Then in chap. 31 he sets forth the following from the little work of Fr. John Baptist Carminati, an Augustinian of the Lombard Congregation, published at Macerata in the year 1618: In the year MDXCV at Ancona, which is a famous city of the March, two girls were standing on the edge of the harbor, and, as children of that age are wont to admire themselves in water as in mirrors, they were gazing at themselves in the wave of the sea. One of them, her foot failing, slipped into the sea, her companion alone looking on. The mother, who meanwhile was awaiting her daughter at home, when she did not appear at the usual time, suspecting some ill, sought her, but in vain. At last she questions her companion; and she, in tears, led her to the harbor and showed the place into which she had fallen.
[502] It is incredible to tell how great a grief then came upon the mother's breast, being drawn out thence dead, revives; impatient of which she filled the whole harbor with laments and wailings. Presently shipwrights ran up in great number, and fishermen were called, among whom those who could swim well plunged themselves into the sea; one of them, more skilled than the rest, found her and drew her out of the waters; and it was noticed that the girl's eyebrows had already been gnawed by sea-snails. At this spectacle the mother, suffering a swoon, moved all the bystanders to pity. But behold, a certain man, coming with the blessed bread of St. Nicholas, put it between the girl's teeth, and presently, as if quickened with new breath, she suddenly cast out the brackish liquid and vomited up the water she had swallowed; and she who was just now bewailed as dead clung alive in her mother's arms, and to this day survives with her husband, the parent of many children.
[503] When in the year MDLXXXVIII, on the XXV day of April, a certain ship carrying about twenty-five travellers, likewise a ship rescued from shipwreck; among whom were two Religious of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, one of Padua, the other from Cantalice in the Abruzzi, was making sail from Istria toward Venice, so great a tempest fell upon the sea that the steersman held it for certain that the ship would perish by shipwreck; and that the more certainly because a certain other vessel, laden with timber, had already sunk not far thence. And so, when those travellers were in a most present danger of death, one of the said Religious, remembering that he had with him some blessed loaves of the glorious father St. Nicholas, going up to the topmost decks of the ship, cast them into the waves; and presently a favorable wind arose as it were miraculously, and, the strip of a lateen sail being spread (for the rest of the sails had by the violence of the storm been torn into a thousand pieces), the ship in a very short space of time came safe to the Venetian port of the two castles.
[504] Thus far Zacconius from the said writers; the things that follow a woman in labor in peril of her life have Zacconius himself as author. In the year of our Lord MDC at Atri, a city of the Abruzzi distinguished with the title of a duchy, a certain woman in labor was seized with pains as the birth pressed on; but the infant that was to come forth into the light put out first not its head but one of its arms: wherefore the midwife and the other women who were present labored that, the arm being drawn back, it might be born in the usual manner; but in vain. Hence the woman in labor, racked for seven days and as many nights with the sharpest pains which the transverse position of the child caused, struggled almost continually with death; so that, failing little by little, she lay destitute of all hope of safety.
[505] Meanwhile very many neighboring women of the same condition visited her out of piety and compassion, gives birth prosperously; and many nuns and pious women prayed God for her health; one of whom brought her the blessed bread of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and, having soaked it in water, offered it to her to take with the utmost devotion. And that she might the more happily obtain the end of her pious desire, she took care that all the women who were present, prostrate upon their knees before a certain icon of the most blessed Virgin, should recite three times the Our Father and the Hail Mary. This she did, namely, because, being skilled in reading, she had learned from that part of the Life of St. Nicholas in which the miracles are treated that many benefits had been obtained through the use of the said bread. Now as soon as the aforesaid woman in labor had swallowed that little loaf softened in water, the infant, drawing its arm back inside, changed its wrong position, and without any injury to the mother came forth into the light in the natural manner.
[506] another, the child having died in the womb, being in peril, When two years afterwards a certain woman in the same city was in labor, the infant, from the ill disposition of its body and by an unhappy lot, died in its mother's womb; whence, torments arising, the mother remained for eight days at the doors of death, as the proverb has it, at the very point of dying; nor, though all remedies were tried, could the infant be expelled from the womb. And so, while she lay in this manner dying, the women who stood about were commending her soul, and admonishing her to commend herself to God and to pray that, her offenses being forgiven, he would receive her soul in peace.
[507] casts it forth. Meanwhile there came into the mind of one of them the most happy event which had befallen that other woman two years before, who, likewise laboring in childbirth, had thought that she would die; and without delay she ordered the bread of St. Nicholas to be brought, and gave it to the aforesaid woman in labor, whose spirit had almost fled from her lips, to take. Now while some of those present meanwhile knelt before the effigy of the Blessed Virgin Mary and recited three times the Our Father and the Hail Mary in honor of St. Nicholas, the said woman without any injury, harm, or ill cast out the dead infant, so rank and foul-smelling that all present were compelled to stop their noses. Here Zacconius subjoins that he learned this twofold miracle, when in the year 1603, being sent into the Abruzzi to preach, he passed through Atri, from a certain great and elegant painting, beneath which each was set out in writing, and which was seen in the church of his Order. Now let us resume the text.
[508] A like loaf, cast into a burning house In the year of the Lord MDLXXXV at Fano, which is a famous and ancient city of the March (but situated within the bounds of the duchy of Urbino, from which it was severed), distant five miles from my own native place (Pesaro), fire had by chance seized a house neighboring the monastery of the nuns of Sant'Arcangelo, and, blazing like Etna, threatened ruin to many neighboring houses. And indeed all would have been reduced to ashes, had not, news being brought to the monastery of the aforesaid nuns, one of them, who greatly venerated St. Nicholas of Tolentino, run at once to her chest, in which she kept several of the Saint's loaves, and sent two of them by a certain woman to be cast without any delay into the fire. And while the loaves were being carried thither, that same nun, prostrate upon her knees in her cell (or perhaps in the choir), prayed continually to the aforesaid glorious Saint to grant her this grace and to quench the fire.
[509] being cast in, quenches the fire, and is recovered whole. The woman, coming thither, where all the people of Fano had run together to see the end of the fire, handed the loaves to a certain man who was laboring beyond the rest to extinguish the blaze; and when he had thrown them into the flames, the fire suddenly began to give way, so that, as it failed of its own accord, it was held beyond doubt that that fire had been extinguished by a divine miracle and by the efficacy of the said bread. And those who knew of it and had seen the bread thrown in, having given thanks to God, made the deed known; and thereby everyone was kindled more and more toward the cult of St. Nicholas. Moreover the case seemed the more wonderful because, after the fire was quenched, the aforesaid loaf was found among the ashes, still warm and hot, in no way burnt or consumed: which when the nun by whom it had been sent heard, she ordered it to be brought to her, and, taking it into her hands, with rising tears and groaning kissed it most devoutly again and again, and thereafter always wore it enclosed in a case like an amulet, hanging with the utmost veneration from her neck.
[510] In the year MDCIX two Fathers of the Lombard Congregation, who by the decision of their superiors were to dwell at Tolentino, A dreadful tempest of the sea, having set out by the Venetian road, which was more convenient for them, there committed themselves to the sea toward Ancona; and while they were sailing by a straight course and a good voyage, as the saying goes, suddenly a most violent wind and tempest arose, and, since the ship was now on the open sea, the steersman and the pilot thought themselves lost; nor yet did they betray their despair in their faces, lest they should terrify the wretched travellers, whom the danger had already grievously afflicted. One of the aforesaid Fathers, who was awake, roused his companion, who was sleeping from the disturbance of the stomach which the motions of the sea had caused, and said: O Father, dost thou not see that we are perishing? Rightly had I warned that we should by no means travel by sea: and now in what crisis do we see ourselves caught?
[511] The Father, being awakened and recognizing the most dangerous tempest, the blessed bread being cast into the waters, raised himself upon his feet, and, opening the wallet in which he kept some small things, took out from it some of the blessed loaves of St. Nicholas, and addressed all in words of this kind: Brethren, fall all of you upon your knees, and recite three times the Our Father and the Hail Mary, beseeching the glorious St. Nicholas of Tolentino to deign to snatch us from this crisis of the dreadful sea that threatens us with destruction, and to bring us safe. All being prostrate and intent on repeating three times the Our Father with the Hail Mary, he himself cast the blessed bread into the sea: which being done, the storm so far ceased that the ship, carried on as though in a calm, came to this our port of Pesaro, from which two other vessels that had gone out were cast upon the shore, the one above Cattolica (a village of Italy on the coast of the Adriatic Gulf), the other not far from our port.
[512] Set safe and unharmed upon the shore, all came together to our church to render thanks to the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, suddenly calmed: and on the next morning, while Mass was being celebrated at his altar, all who had been delivered were present. This matter, which I have just narrated, I know to have happened so, because, while I was talking with those very men about the mishap they had undergone, they took me away to see their companions as they were about to enter the church. But at that time, by no means thinking that these things would some day be of use to me, and indeed in the place in which I have reported them, I did not take care to inquire their names or their native places, which otherwise I would gladly have expressed here, and perhaps would also have learned certain other circumstances.
[513] In the year MDCXVII, on the X day of September, a certain Father of the Lombard Congregation, by the same, a stroke of lightning who at that time was Prior of the Crucifix of Recanati, a monastery of the same Congregation (in the March of Ancona), was returning from Tolentino, on that day namely because, since it was sacred to the aforesaid father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, he had betaken himself thither with the greatest joy and with great consolation of mind had honored his most holy relics. And although at Recanati, as in all the other houses of the Order, loaves of the said glorious Saint are wont to be blessed, yet without doubt nowhere is so great a quantity blessed as at Tolentino, namely that they may at the same time be applied to his most holy relics and be carried and sent elsewhere; he too asked for himself a good part of those which had touched the sacred relics, and, placing them in his bosom, sought home again glad and eager. But while he was going forward on the plain which lies between Macerata and Recanati, a certain thunderbolt, falling upon his umbrella, struck his breast and cast him to the ground; so that he thought he had utterly perished.
[514] is rendered harmless, But it was not as he supposed: for the lightning, having pierced his garment, had not dared to touch those sacred loaves further; but presently turning elsewhere, it had struck a neighboring heap of straw and had done other damage. Meanwhile the Father, suddenly taking heart again, rose from the ground, and, finding himself unharmed, when he came to Recanati made the matter known to his friends, and gratefully acknowledged the signal benefit which God had granted him through the bread of St. Nicholas carried in his bosom — namely that, being struck by lightning, he had not perished nor been in any way injured — and showed the marks of the lightning both on his garments and on his umbrella. The report of this matter being spread among the people, there was no one who was not eager to speak with him about it and to learn so great a prodigy and wonderful mishap from his own mouth.
[515] and a fever is driven away. In the year MDCXIX, when in my native Pesaro a certain master Simon, a potter, was suffering from a tertian fever which was to return on the very feast day of the glorious father St. Nicholas (namely the tenth of September, as I noted above), he remembered that festivity, and presently sent bread and a vessel full of water to our church of St. Augustine to be blessed. After the woman who had been sent had returned home with the blessed bread and water, he softened the bread in the aforesaid water, and, having taken it with most ardent desire and pious confidence, obtained the benefit he wished. For when, glad at the antidote he had taken, he had composed himself in bed to sleep, he slept so long that, waking afterwards, he found that the appointed hour of the fever had already passed: and he was thereafter affected with the greater joy in that he was never afterwards seized with that fever. This miracle he himself related to me, when on a certain day I visited him. Thus far Zacconius.
§ XXXII. Other miracles wrought in Italy and in Belgium.
[ ] Fires at Bologna, Besides the miracles already reported, I find several others in Torelli in his Annals at the year of Christ 1349 from num. 9, to which, rendered into Latin, I shall here give place. In this year (namely 1349, he says) our Lord Jesus Christ deigned to work a vast miracle to the glory and honor of his servant St. Nicholas of Tolentino, through the use of the same blessed bread, in this our native city of Bologna. The event happened in this manner: On the fourth day of the month of July fire had seized the house of Dardus Francis Bonaventura Paleotti in the square of St. Donatus, of a most noble family, which to this day maintains the ancient splendor of its nobility more than ever before; nor was any human labor or ingenuity equal to extinguishing so great a fire. Meanwhile, while that whole building was blazing on every side with devouring fire, at last one of our Religious, moved by devotion, cast the bread of St. Nicholas into the flames: which being done, no otherwise than if he had poured in a river of waters, that vast fire was quenched of its own accord. Now here it is to be noted how ancient is that pious use of the blessed bread of St. Nicholas in the holy Church, since that glorious Servant of God had not at that time yet been canonized, and perhaps not even beatified. For the rest, this miracle is reported by our Cherubinus Ghirardacci, tom. 2 of the History of Bologna, book XXII, p. CXCIII.
[517] To these he subjoins a like fire extinguished at Venice by the use of the same bread, at Venice, which we have already reported at num. 482; and then continues thus: To these two prodigious miracles which God wrought through the blessed bread of the glorious St. Nicholas, it is useful to subjoin three others, which are narrated to the same effect by Fr. Anthony Dulciati of Florence, a Religious of ours of exemplary life, in the Life of St. Nicholas published at Florence, the author's native place, in the year of the Lord MDXV. He says therefore that, when the palace of the Medici family was blazing with so dreadful a fire that the devouring flames had already risen some ells above its roof, and it was therefore believed impossible to extinguish so monstrous a fire by human work, a certain one of our Religious, a most devout client of the Saint, considering this, climbed onto the roof and with great confidence cast one blessed loaf into the said fire, and that this, its furious force being suddenly checked, was prodigiously extinguished.
[518] Besides, the praised author narrates that, a great fire having arisen in the same city of Florence in the house of a certain baker, at Florence and elsewhere which could by no means be extinguished, blessed bread was likewise cast into the flames with great faith by a certain devout client of the Saint, and that in this way that dreadful fire, to the wonder of all, was at once utterly extinguished; and — what filled the spectators with even greater astonishment — that that loaf which had been cast into the flames was found after the fire miraculously pressed together, white, fair, and whole, such as it had been before.
[519] Finally, as the same Father Dulciati reports, outside Castel Goffredo in Lombardy a certain hayloft neighboring two houses caught fire by night, extinguished by the same bread. and the inhabitants feared lest the aforesaid houses should burn together with the hayloft: which when the Prior of our convent, which we have in the same castle, learned, he ran swiftly without delay to the aforesaid fire, and with great faith cast the blessed bread of St. Nicholas into the fire, which, at once drawing back, was presently extinguished without further damage.
[520] Now, after we have reported these miracles wrought by God in extinguishing fires through the use of St. Nicholas's bread, By the same bread the Po, about to break its dyke, we cannot but set forth another truly great one wrought in water by the use of the same bread, as it is narrated by the author praised above. The matter is thus: When in his time the great river Po, its waters swollen in a dreadful manner, had already begun to break through the dyke near the famous land of Viadana, and the wretched inhabitants, who knew no way of averting the impending ruin, had thereby been brought into the utmost crisis, behold, the Prior of our convent situated not far thence, and distinguished by the name of the glorious father St. Nicholas of Tolentino, relying above all on the divine mercy and on the said bread of the Saint, betook himself together with all his Religious, after the manner of suppliants, to the place which the Po had begun to break through and to hollow out.
[521] is restrained, And when he had come thither, he took the said blessed bread, and cast it into the chasm already hollowed out there, from which the surging waters of the raging river were on the point of bursting forth, and the most fertile
waters were about to flood that tract with irreparable loss, wrapped in a Religious cloak; which being done, the raging waves being suddenly driven back from the aforesaid chasm to the wonder of all, the inhabitants laid aside the fear they had conceived. Now the said Prior was called Brother Alphonsus a Musco. Thus in Torelli, who adds that he here passes over many other miracles in great number.
[522] Miracles wrought in Belgium: Now let us come at last to our Belgium, in various places of which we showed in §12 that the miraculous blood of the Saint is preserved. The reverend Father Nicholas de Tombeur, in the Life of St. Nicholas published in Latin, writes thus on this subject: The wonders which God has deigned to work in our Belgium, I have thought it worth while to report some of. Some, I say; for I do not suffice to review them all: for if it pleased to report here the testimonies of those who in all the cities of Belgium freely confess that through the use of the blessed bread, and the invocation and merits of St. Nicholas, they have experienced his patronage in manifest dangers and in the miseries of human life, whole volumes could be filled.
[523] the plague extinguished at Enghien; Let the town of Enghien in Hainaut lead the procession: for when almost the whole of it was being laid waste by a pestilential plague, and it was not stayed by the remedies applied, the citizens, taking refuge by a most salutary counsel in the protection of St. Nicholas, appointed a solemn procession and carried his statue about through the streets of the city with the utmost devotion and confidence: and when they had come to the market-place, setting it there they with common insistence ask of the Confessor of God fitting help against the present evils. Nor were they disappointed of their hope: for at once the divine kindness was at hand, and the evil, which before had raged beyond measure, spread no further, and those whom it had already attacked were cured. Whence the citizens, to render thanks to their Benefactor, to this present day every year on the X day of September, which is St. Nicholas's feast, and on the seven days following, being invited to it street by street, appear in our church, are present at the divine Office, and pay their vows with due acknowledgment; and on the Sunday within the Octave they carry his statue about through the city in a solemn procession.
[524] some also delivered or preserved from the same at Ghent, Bruges The same very many citizens of Ghent and Bruges experienced, who in the year MDCXXXIV, when those cities were infected with the same plague, used no other remedy against it than this blessed bread. For the citizens nearest to our convent took care that even all their food bread should be blessed daily by our Brethren; and while the whole city was in mourning for the loss of kinsmen and dear ones, they were preserved untouched.
[525] and at Mechlin. The same Fr. Servatius Smets experienced at Mechlin, once Prior of our convent there, who, when in the year MDCXXV, and again at the request of the lord archbishop of Mechlin and of the senate and people of the same city in the year MDCXXXIV, he had tirelessly attended out of charity upon those laboring under that contagion, by the benefit and daily use of this bread always remained untouched by that plague. These things from Fr. John Nævius, formerly Provincial, in the book entitled Eremus Augustiniana.
[526] In the year MDCCIV, on the XVII day of September, the most serene Elector of Cologne and prince of Liège, Joseph Clement, duke of Bavaria, by a testimony written and subscribed with his own hand at Lille, publicly attests The Elector of Cologne healed: that he was healed supernaturally through the use of this blessed bread.
[527] Pregnant women also, when they are in peril in the pains of childbirth, a woman in peril in childbirth, brought safely to bed: have frequently been relieved by the use of this blessed bread. I myself, says Nævius, knew at Hasselt (that is a town in the diocese of Liège on the river Demer) a woman who, when on account of the utmost difficulty of childbirth, in which she had already been held for three days, being in peril of her life without hope of deliverance, she had received this bread from our brethren and had taken part of it with confidence, was at once relieved and brought forth her child. That this had so befallen her she reported upon oath to the lord John Frederici, pastor of the people of Hasselt, and he wrote it to me with faithful testimony, says Nævius in the same place.
[528] At Antwerp also Mary de Wael, wife of Bartholomew van Eechhoven, was so afflicted with a contraction of the sinews a woman wretchedly contracted is raised up: that her legs, turned backward, grew into her body; and she herself, as it were rolled into a ball, could neither stand nor sit without bandages, and this now for four years. She, in the year MDCXXXIV, on a day within the Octave of St. Nicholas, having taken the blessed bread from her son Adrian with devotion in the evening, on the following day during the office of solemn Mass all the bandages by which she was held bound to her seat were of their own accord loosed, and her legs were stretched out and brought back to their natural state; and at once she began to lean upon them, and, they being gradually strengthened, to walk. That this had so befallen her through the intercession of this Saint the aforesaid Mary, still surviving today and in health, says Nævius, related to me, and openly confesses to all.
[529] In the year MDLXXXIV at Liège a certain mother, having a rebellious and furious son, a son brought back to good behavior: at last complained to Father Thomas Gratianus, then Prior there and afterwards Provincial, and, having received blessed bread from him, by the aforesaid Father's counsel put two or three particles of it into her son's broth; and when he had taken it, the son, knowing nothing of all this, was on account of his mother's piety at once so changed into another young man that from that time he never grieved his mother.
[530] In the year MDCXVIII at Antwerp Peter Phalesius, in the seventy-third year of his age, an old man grievously ill, suddenly healed: being confined to his bed with a malignant fever, when on a certain night he had heard a choir of angels singing a psalm of David with sweet melody, and the Virgin Mother of God had appeared to him with St. Nicholas in the habit of our Order, he himself too began to sing for joy: and his daughters, awakened from sleep by the signs of this unwonted gladness, run to their father and find him lying with a cheerful and serene countenance. And he related to them that Bl. Nicholas, when the singing ceased, had come to him and said: Peter, the prayers and sighs offered to God by thy children have prolonged thy life for some years. And Peter himself at that same moment felt himself so cured of every languor that the physicians, who the day before had despaired of his life, returning to him, affirmed that it must be believed to have come about not without a miracle. And Peter lived thereafter eleven years more.
[531] a boy's ill-affected knee cured, His patronage the most illustrious lord James Stalins, formerly president of the parliament or great council residing at Mechlin, who died in the year MDCCXIV, likewise experienced at Ghent. For he, when he was six or seven years old, suffered so great a contraction of the sinews about the knee that the kneecap was believed to have been torn from the knee, and a perpetual lameness was feared. But beyond all hope he was delivered at the invocation and intercession of St. Nicholas: whence in gratitude his parents had a painting made with the effigy of the little boy kneeling, which to this day is seen at the altar of St. Nicholas in our church at Ghent. And he himself, mindful of the benefit received, chose him as his special Benefactor and Patron, and, as long as he lived, honored St. Nicholas with singular devotion, and wished to be buried with us at Mechlin. Thus Tombeur: nor do I doubt that many more miracles of this kind, as he himself noted above, were obtained throughout our Belgium by the use of the same salutary bread; but they have not come into my hands.
§ XXXIII. Some miracles obtained at Lima in the kingdom of Peru.
[ ] The Saint's cult propagated to both the Indies. The miracles which we have hitherto reported were wrought in Europe; but just as the glory and cult of the most holy Thaumaturge were by no means confined to this part of the world, so neither did he confine his beneficence toward the wretched within its bounds. Of the propagation of his cult we have a most striking testimony in the Bull of Pope Sixtus V, which we reviewed at num. 66 and following of the Posthumous Glory, and from which I here repeat a few words. Bl. Nicholas, says the Pontiff, of whose life, converse, and holy falling asleep in the Lord the people of Tolentino make their boast, having embraced the Regular institutes of the Hermits of St. Augustine, made his way with such purity and integrity of life that the sanctity of that Man was propagated and diffused far and wide through the various regions of the world, even to the West Indies. And of the miracles wrought at the invocation of the same Saint in America, some are narrated by the reverend and excellent Fr. Joachim Brulius, an Augustinian Hermit, doctor of sacred Theology and Prior Provincial throughout Belgium, in the Peruvian History of his Order, published at Antwerp in the year 1651, from which I excerpt the following in the same words.
[533] Some miracles wrought at Lima are reviewed: First of all, in book 6, chap. 6 he narrates the miracles wrought at Lima. Now Lima, in Spanish Los Reyes, is a spacious and most beautiful city of South America, archiepiscopal, the capital of all Peru, and a noble emporium; but which, being shaken beyond measure by dreadful earthquakes in the forty-sixth year of the present century, has doubtless lost not a little of its former splendor. But let us pass over these sad matters and return to the subject proposed. The third image, says the praised Brulius, by which the convent of Lima is made illustrious (he had treated before of the statues of the Crucified Lord and of the Blessed Virgin Mary), is that of St. Nicholas of Tolentino; who, since through the whole world he is so lavish of miracles, it was not fitting that he should be sparing of them in the new world. I frankly confess, their number is such that those alone which happened at Lima would be able to fill a whole volume; since sometimes eight are reported in one day, and few days pass which are not each marked by some miracle. Among the rest, the little loaves blessed in honor of St. Nicholas are held in the greatest veneration; since daily one of the senior Religious spends himself from morning to evening in carrying the little loaves to the houses of the laity, and it happens that there are days when one is not enough for all. We shall taste a few out of many: nor are more needed among a believing world, no corner of which is unpossessed by some of his domestic prodigies.
[534] While in our old monastery at Lima Father Ludovicus Alvarez, a plainly apostolic man, was preaching to the people on the very festivity of St. Nicholas, a boy fallen into a deep well, a boy of eight years, called Didacus of Lima, playing there by chance, fell into a very deep and narrow well of the monastery. Another boy, noticing him falling, cries out: Saint of the little loaves, succor him! Meanwhile the report ran as far as the church, and, since the name of the fallen boy was not given, it struck beyond measure all who remembered that they had little sons, and they run to the well in rivalry. But a voice was heard from the bottom of the well: Draw me out; for I am sound and unhurt.
[535] They let down therefore a bucket, into which, when the little boy had cast himself, is drawn out unharmed: he appeared on being drawn out not only whole but also dry. Being asked the cause of both, he answered: A certain Augustinian, glittering with stars on every side, carried me in his hands as I fell, that I might take no hurt, and a Lady
exceedingly beautiful afterwards held me, that I might not touch the waters. So that the most blessed Virgin herself seems to have wished to render some service on the solemnity of St. Nicholas, while he was working this miracle. And the well was thereafter called Holy, and yielded waters salutary for many infirmities.
[536] Another miracle happened in the same well three years after the Religious of St. Bernard had succeeded, the Augustinians being transferred to a new monastery the same well, water being scarce, (which is said in book 6, chap. 2 and book 12, chap. 7 to have been done in the year 1573, when they had inhabited the old one from the year 1551); whose foundress and abbess was Lucretia de Sansoles, no small benefactress of ours before she entered Religion, and most zealous for the cult of St. Nicholas. A violent and long-continued drought had dried up all the springs and wells of the city of Lima, this one also which we have said was called HOLY, so that the Religious were compelled with great inconvenience to seek the water they needed from a river very far distant. Wearied by these troubles, they appoint a procession in honor of St. Nicholas, which they had not yet finished when the servants of the monastery run up, announcing that water was flowing from the well which we noted above to have been very deep.
[537] The novelty of the thing and the need of water had roused the whole city to see it; prodigiously pours forth its waters. so that it was feared that the multitude, stirred by those two causes, would break through the enclosure of the monastery. The report of the prodigy and the eagerness of the people being brought to the archbishop Jerome de Loaysa, he, coming suddenly and observing the ardor of the multitude, granted that, the doors being opened, all should be admitted, on this pretext, as though each would draw the miraculous water for himself. There entered very many of every kind and rank — ecclesiastics, nobles, men, women, old and young — and even the viceroy Francis de Toledo himself; all not only astounded at the greatness of the miracle but also glad at the timeliness of the water, which they drew off by channels made into the squares, so that both the monastery's enclosure might stand and there might be from this sacred spring a supply for the citizens' needs; which they applied as a medicine to very many infirmities, and found it to be so.
[538] The Saint, appearing, frees a matron from fever; Nicolaa Rodríguez, wife of the nobleman Peter de Salazar, was suffering desperately from fevers, and had a hereditary devotion toward St. Nicholas; since it was for that reason that her parents had wished her to be called by that name. She therefore in so great an affliction unfolds the utmost fervor of devotion, and, vows being made, strives to earn the Saint's patronage. He, neither deaf nor unkind, being seen to pass by the pillow of the sick woman in the Augustinian habit, bade her be secure, for whom this infirmity was not mortal. At which sight she presently took heart again, and a little after health.
[539] at another time he teaches her the way of curing her disease. At another time an evil attacked the same Nicolaa, great indeed, but one which the whole company of physicians did not know: which, while they tried to drive it out by haphazard remedies, they rendered more exasperated and at last desperate. Hereupon she, setting about calling on the Physician known to her among the heavenly ones, found him again favorable. For Nicholas, passing before the bed of the sick woman, said: Thy infirmity is a kind of swooning, and is to be cured as such. Which when the physicians do, they shortly restored her health.
[540] Two children through the Saint's invocation A noblewoman, N., had for many years impatiently longed for offspring: a son is born to her; but he dies again after a few months. Yet his mother forbade him to be buried, whether from excess of love or from an exceptional confidence in the heavenly ones. The little body therefore, wrapped in a linen cloth, she carries to the church and lays upon the altar of St. Nicholas, herself with tears and prayers from morning until the fifth hour after noon importunately soliciting that Saint's patronage. Then the little boy opened his eyes, and, smiling at his mother, was an irrefragable witness of a true resurrection.
[541] restored to life: They report that a like thing happened to a certain Moor, who had laid his little son, dead as he himself testified, upon the same altar. Him a priest about to celebrate there wished to have removed; but the father, that he might not be removed, urged with weeping and entreaty, and even obtained at the same time that the Mass should be celebrated in honor of St. Nicholas: which was not yet finished when the boy was seen to be alive.
[542] a nobleman recovers from a fever. In the year MDCXXIV Henry de Castrillo, knight of the Order of St. James and prefect of the horse, killed the man who had done him the injury of calling him a liar, and sought asylum in our college of St. Ildefonsus; but there most dangerous fevers attacked him. His wife Jacoba Loboguerrero, dismayed at her husband's peril, had recourse to St. Nicholas with a religious vow, promising that she would match with wax a weight equal to his stature, if her husband recovered. And it came about that he was restored not only to health but also to liberty, which the viceroy the marquis de Guadalcázar gave him, that he might go against James Termin the pirate, who had slipped into the port of Callao with eleven larger ships. The wife, having obtained her desire, presently also discharged the debt of her vow. Callao, of which mention is here made, was the port of the city of Lima, two miles distant from it: but it was laid waste by those same earthquakes of which we made mention at num. 533, or rather by the waves of the sea swelling thereupon in a dreadful manner — a lot indeed sorrowful and not to be recorded by posterity without horror. Let us return to Brulius.
[543] To wish to enter upon the number of the miracles wrought through the little loaves blessed in honor of St. Nicholas A miracle wrought in the blessing of loaves: would be the same as to wish to count the sand of the sea. For many years Anna de Escarcena, a woman most zealous for St. Nicholas if any other was, had baked in her house the little loaves customarily distributed to the faithful. But it came about that, by human inadvertence, which often creeps upon the most watchful, the little loaves were on a certain day sacred to that Saint neglected in the oven, and all were burned and grew black like quenched coals; which accordingly she cast as useless into some corner of the bakehouse, sad and complaining of St. Nicholas. The sacristans send men to bring the baked loaves to them; but Anna sent back nothing but complaints and the misfortune of the burned ones. But because they were much wanted, presently a pair of Religious come to her house, to choose out the sounder ones. She, taking their distrust not quite fairly, said: Come in, and see for yourselves the uselessness of the ones I threw away. But going in, they found them all most white and most beautiful, changed by a miracle, to the vast astonishment of Anna and of the maidservants who knew of the matter.
[544] If we enter the house of the noble and virtuous woman Maria de la Torre, a girl's eye cut through and forced out, we shall be entering the very workshop of miracles. In the year MDCXXIII a little boy of six years, playing with Elvira de la Serna, a most beautiful girl of his own age, cut through the middle of the other's eye with a knife, and at the same time almost the whole heart of Maria, with whom the orphan Elvira was being brought up, while she beholds the eye hanging outside its socket. She, anxious and at a loss for counsel, at once grinds a little loaf, meanwhile again and again imploring the patronage of St. Nicholas, puts the eye back into its socket, binds over it the ground little loaf, and lays her upon her bed, to rest if she could, while in the meantime some surgeon should be called.
[545] The little girl not only rested but slept peacefully for two hours; the blessed bread being applied, is healed: after which she was not free of her sleep sooner than of her wound; there remaining, however, not so much a scar of the wound as a kind of trace, in the manner of a crystalline line drawn straight from the top to the bottom of the eye; which so refreshed the memory of the miracle for all beholders that it caused no impediment to sight, but added besides an ornament to her beauty. Being asked once by the Father master Anthony de la Calancha whether the line running across the eye dimmed her sight, she said: So far is that from being so, that it even brings clearness: for from experience I affirm that I behold anything more clearly with the healed eye than with the untouched one.
[546] In the year MDCXXV fevers had brought to the porch of death a little slave (he advises that in Spanish is read negrito, a slave from fevers, which you would interpret as a little Moor) of the said Maria de la Torre. Being warned of the danger, since on the day before St. Nicholas's feast she was baking the little loaves, she urged the sick boy that, conceiving confidence in the patronage of St. Nicholas, he should take a little loaf, though not yet blessed; this anticipation of the blessing in sudden cases would not stand in the way of a miraculous working. He took it, and after a little while said: Mistress, the fevers have left me; and they never afterwards returned. a maidservant from the same disease and from spitting of blood, delivered;
[547] In the following year, a little before the solemnity of St. Nicholas, another maidservant of the said Maria, for whom she had no small affection, was in no less danger of death. She, besides the evil of fever, frequently vomited great clots of coagulated blood. Maria, as though secure of the help to be brought by St. Nicholas, which she had so often experienced, even dared to threaten the Saint that no loaves should thereafter be baked in her house unless he restored the maidservant's health; and she put off her work for some days, and awaited the servant's cure in vain. Then, accusing her own rashness, the feast being now at hand, Maria began to carry out her accustomed work and to bake the little loaves, and at the same time commended the maidservant, but more humbly, to St. Nicholas; and on that very day not only the fevers but every casting up of blood ceased.
[548] a noble girl In the year MDCXXXI the recovery of Anna-Maria de Urdanivia, daughter of Maria de la Torre, was despaired of in the physicians' judgment; and when Ignatius de Urdanivia, Anna's brother, himself most skilled in the healing art, had perceived that danger,
… After he sees that mortal attempts avail nothing, that the arts of healers avail nothing; he asks for heavenly aid,
and that through the patronage of St. Nicholas, whose image he saw hanging in the chamber, using a form of prayer which only a mind full of confidence can commend. Unless, he said, most glorious of the Saints, thou restore entire health to my sister,
no hands hereafter in this house shall bake the little loaves, no oven shall cook them.
[549] recovers from a grave illness: Scarcely had he prayed so briefly when presently a vast numbness and anxiety came over his whole body, his hair stood up on end; he could not, even if he tried, change his place by fleeing: and he seemed to himself to feel a person standing at his back greatly afflicted. And at that very moment of time his sister began to be better, and within a very few days rose up entirely sound. But because in the same house there was also painted and venerated an image of Fr. Francis Solano, at that time famous at Lima for miracles, being uncertain to which of them they should attribute this cure beyond nature's measure, lots being cast, which three times returned the name of St. Nicholas, they gave themselves to that side in belief and devotion, by a custom neither unusual nor superstitious. For the use of these lots there is cited here in the margin the holy Father Augustine, book 1 On Christian Doctrine, chap. 28, and in Epistle 180 to Honoratus; St. Thomas 2-2, q. 95, art. 8: but this is not the place to treat of these, and therefore I proceed to the rest.
[550] a fire is extinguished: A fire was raging at Lima in the square of the Holy Cross, and had already spread by devouring and flying to certain houses belonging to Maria de la Torre: she quickly sent a servant to cast a little loaf into the raging flames; which, being thrown in, extinguished them at that very moment, every wave
which the citizens had found useless being less potent against the fire. Fr. Anthony de la Calancha reports more miracles wrought in the house and household of the same matron.
[551] a hernia suddenly cured: When John de Canseco, doctor of medicine, had visited the Father master Alphonsus Pacheco, and had learned from him of the wholly remarkable miracle wrought upon him by St. Nicholas, which shall be reported when I describe his life, he turned from him to Ferdinand Niño, heavy with age, and whom the evil of a hernia, and his intestines, cold and protruding outside the belly, had brought next to death; and he narrated the miracle which he had heard from the Father master Alphonsus Pacheco: roused by his narration, he applied a little loaf to the extreme evil; and, wonderful to say, at that very time the intestines were drawn back into the belly, no trace of the hernia being left save a line to testify to the miracle.
[552] Nor was St. Nicholas of Tolentino less honored or less benevolent in the house of Leonora, a woman notable for nobility as well as for virtue, a noblewoman grievously ill, a slave from hectic fever, who married John de Mendieta. Joanna, Leonora's daughter, was suffering beyond hope of recovery; but by the application of the bread she obtained entire health. The son of the same Leonora, Gonsalvo, a priest, had a slave hastening to death from an irremediable hectic fever: pitying whom, Gonsalvo led him to the altar of St. Nicholas, and, the unbloody Sacrifice being offered for him, brought him back most fully sound.
[553] A maidservant of Leonora was afflicted with a kind of paralysis, mortal by all the rules of medicine, a maidservant suffering from paralysis, are given health. and nothing was any longer awaited but her last breath, which a little loaf applied prolonged, health being instantaneously restored. The power of these little loaves extends even to brute animals: for they knit together the broken leg of a mule useful and dear to its master.
§ XXXIV. Miracles obtained at Potosí, Valverde, Zaña, and Huánuco in the kingdom of Peru.
[ ] In the city of Potosí an infant In the southern part of the same Peru, in the region which the Spaniards call de los Charcas, at the roots of the mountain of Potosí, richest in silver mines, is seen the city of the same name, Potosí, founded by the Spaniards, in which, on the testimony of the praised Brulius, book 16, chap. 4, the Augustinian Fathers first administered two parishes, namely of St. Barbara and St. Bernard, and then in the year 1584 entered upon a monastery offered by the inhabitants. Now some miracles wrought by our holy Thaumaturge in this city the same Brulius sets forth in chap. 5 in these words. The air here was so unhappy and unhealthy for Spanish infants that it presently extinguished them either before or scarcely after birth, with an almost certain condemnation of them and an inescapable mourning of parents and of all truly Catholic people. It was observed that none survived beyond the fifteenth day: wherefore mothers, anxious for the welfare both of the soul and of the body of their offspring, withdrew to the neighboring valleys to give birth, not bringing back the child before it had passed its first year of age, and not even at that age safe against the harmfulness of the air.
[555] Most unfortunate in both evils was Francis Flores, is preserved by the Saint's help still living in the year MDCXXXIII, and secretary of the audiencia of Lima. For to him either no living child was born, or one brought back from the valleys died. He had long been devoted to the cult of St. Nicholas, and, increasing his confidence from the greatness of the evil, he determined no longer to permit his wife to go out of Potosí to the valleys to give birth, but to offer the child to St. Nicholas and to give it his name. And when this deed was charged by all his acquaintance with not only rashness but cruelty, he answered that he lived secure in confidence in the help of St. Nicholas alone.
[556] safe from the air hostile to all other children: A son is born to him on the day before the Nativity of the Lord in the year MDXCVIII; he is called Nicholas, whom St. Nicholas not only preserved against the harshness of the air, but from whom he also drove away several infirmities by a manifest miracle. He was the first who in the space of fifty-three years could be preserved alive among the sons of the Spaniards. And he survived many years thereafter, and received the doctoral laurel in the university of Lima, being called Doctor Nicholas Flores, and was made also Rector of the chapter. By the novelty of the miracle the rest also, in confidence of St. Nicholas's help, dared to redeem the burdensome exile of their wives by vows made to St. Nicholas; wherefore all who were born in those times were called by the name of Nicholas.
[557] his hernia is suddenly cured: The same Nicholas, while still a boy, was ruptured on both sides, and his intestines had flowed down, the opening of the rupture being closed and hardened, so that it could be reduced by no physician's hand or fomentations, with certain danger of death. They therefore remind St. Nicholas of the benefit formerly conferred, and ask that he would not permit to perish by a solitary evil the boy whom he had defended by the highest miracle against the calamity common to all infants. And St. Nicholas gave ear to their prayers, obtaining for him instantaneous health.
[558] fires extinguished by the blessed bread. In the same city a little loaf blessed in honor of St. Nicholas, cast on three different occasions and in three places into flames raging with fire, as many times extinguished the fire. It has cured various infirmities, and especially fevers, so often that the number cannot be reckoned. Let us go with Brulius from Potosí to Valverde, another city of the Peruvian kingdom.
[559] At Valverde a matron from a most grievous illness, The situation of the place he relates in book 16, chap. 6, in this manner: The city of Valverde, which by the old name of the people they commonly call Ica from the valley in which it is situated, is fifty leagues further south than Lima is, in the fourteenth degree of southern latitude, and has a longitude about one degree greater than Lima. Then in chap. 8 of the same book he writes the following to our purpose: The second statue in the monastery of Valverde (in the preceding chapter he had treated of the effigy of St. Augustine) was of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, not fruitlessly venerated. The first to experience his heavenly benefit was Anna del Castillo, wife of Didacus de Morales. She, afflicted with an evil of whose cure the physicians despaired, fled with strong prayer and abundant tears to the help of him to whom she knew an ample authority over all the elements and absolutely all diseases had been granted by God — namely St. Nicholas of Tolentino — and obtained health at that very moment.
[560] and her daughter She, not ungrateful to her chief Physician, endowed his chapel with a yearly rent, for which she constituted a mortgage upon her chief goods, that its ornaments might never fail; and she afterwards believed that she had him as it were hired by this stipend, so great was the confidence with which she implored his help in every need. The greatness and constancy of this confidence she showed altogether singular when she saw her daughter next to death, and the disease beyond human counsel. She calls upon St. Nicholas; she is not heard; prayers are often repeated to him; you would have thought the ears of the Saint, at other times so swift to hear, were stopped. So St. Nicholas knew that his Master Christ had sometimes either neglected the prayers of suppliants or turned away from them with reproaches (he means the somewhat harsher, though just, words to the Canaanite woman), that he might render their faith and patience more illustrious, or that he might confer the benefit more abundantly; certainly that he might teach all an example of persevering in prayer. now dying, recovers
[561] Augustinians were present with the daughter in her agony, nor was anything else awaited but that the violence of the disease should thrust forth her last breath. Nor did the mother despair here; but, withdrawing for a while from the others, she said: My Saint, glorious Saint, by whose prayers a partridge, once roasted and carved, resumed its life and wings and flew away, restore health to one still breathing, though faintly. She hastens anxiously back from prayer to her daughter, and finds her at rest without danger of dying: she prayed again, and within a few days obtained entire health. In memory of the benefit received the daughter went about for a long time clothed in the habit of St. Nicholas.
[562] By that continuance of miracles in the house of Anna del Castillo the people began to believe a boy believed dead, miraculously healed: that it was a kind of hospital to which the help of St. Nicholas was, if not obliged, at least accustomed. Wherefore a father carried thither his dying son, whom, when Anna received him in her arms as gently as she could, his body being stretched out, his head thrown back and afterwards feebly laid down, he was believed by both to have ended his life. But Anna, fully confident that the power of St. Nicholas extends even beyond life, bade the father be of good courage, and offer his little son with steadfast confidence to the holy Thaumaturge in the convent of the Augustinians. She found the father obedient in a desperate case, who laid his little son, dead as he supposed, upon the altar of St. Nicholas; he prayed that he would not suffer him alone among so many worshippers to be wretched, and reject him with a refusal. In the midst of these prayers the boy began to stir and to be fully alive; so that all cried out that the little boy had not been healed but raised again by an undoubted miracle. The same survived many years afterwards, a herald of his miraculous life.
[563] And by a kind of hereditary succession the patronage of St. Nicholas seemed to be transmitted to the descendants of Anna del Castillo: the same matron's grandson wonderfully obtains health, for her grandson, named out of reverence for him whom they greatly venerated Nicholas, seven years old, was so overwhelmed with a grave infirmity that on the third day he was pressed by danger of death, having lost his speech. His parents and kinsfolk had recourse in prayer to the physician customary in the family, St. Nicholas: scarcely had they finished the prayer when the boy broke out into these words: Succor me, St. Nicholas. From which time he was so changed for the better that within very few days he enjoyed the most robust health.
[564] Stirred by so many benefits, Didacus de Morales and Anna del Castillo had a statue of St. Nicholas carved most skilfully at Pisco; A river, to those crossing with the Saint's statue but neither was it brought to Valverde without an evident miracle. As it was being carried, there accompanied it Father John Serrano, Didacus de Morales, and, for honor's sake, a not scanty company. The river Mamacona was swollen with an unwonted rise of waters, and was being swept along with greater force than that the usual fords should seem safe to the muleteer: wherefore he stubbornly refused to take across either the statue or the companions. They, made bolder by confidence in the Saint whose statue they carried, the muleteer resisting, place it upon the mule which seemed the strongest of the rest, and drive it to ford. Scarcely had it touched the surface of the water with its hoofs when with such swiftness, against nature, the river drew back toward the source of its own flow that this mule and those following scarcely wetted the tips of their feet in crossing.
[565] But when they had come out on the opposite bank, being startled by a certain sudden sound, wonderfully grants a passage. they see the Mamacona pouring out with doubled force down the slopes the waters which by a higher command it had drawn back; and they reflected that they were conducting nothing less powerful or less sacred than the Ark which turned the Jordan backward, and grew daily more ardent toward the veneration of St. Nicholas. Pisco, of which mention is made above, was a town of the same kingdom of Peru, of the audiencia, as they say, of Lima, built upon the very shore of the sea; but in this year 1682 it was destroyed when the sea was shaken and raised by an earthquake, and thus it came about that the Spaniards built another town of the same name a little further from the sea and safe from its rages, on the testimony of M. Bruzen la Martinière in the new geographical Lexicon published in French, in which also Valverde is placed twelve miles distant
is said, at the word Valverde.
[566] Zaña also is said to be famous for miracles: Zaña too, another town of the Peruvian kingdom, which he says was otherwise called St. James of Miraflores, and has no more than six and a half degrees of southern latitude, he writes was made illustrious by very many miracles of St. Nicholas, in chap. XI of the same book; but he records them only in summary. Hither, he says, the Augustinians led a colony in the year MDLXXXIV … And the colony, being admitted by the province in the year MDLXXXVII, was first governed by the Prior Father John Baptist N., who and whose successors experienced no greater patron than St. Nicholas of Tolentino, who from the beginning began to be so famous there for frequent miracles that without great difficulty, from the offerings and alms which the faithful brought abundantly from every side, the Augustinians completed in a short space of time a most beautiful church and monastery. Greater there is the number of miracles wrought through the intercession of St. Nicholas than that any reckoning of them can be had. Vast is the catalogue of the lame, the blind, and those despaired of from other evils who have been delivered there; but far greater that of women in childbirth. Wherefore a confraternity has been instituted there than which none is more famous or more magnificent.
[567] in the town of Huánuco a dying man Finally, in book 17, chap. 3 he relates besides two miracles obtained at Huánuco, which is likewise a town of Peru in the audiencia of Lima, by the patronage of the same Saint, in these words: It would now be held a miracle that there should be any place not made illustrious by some miracle of St. Nicholas of Tolentino. The people of Huánuco certainly reckon very many from the very coming of the Augustinians (that is, from the year 1584, as he had premised in chap. 2): but I have found two narrated in the records of Peru which I have been able to have, wrought within recent memory. In the year MDCXXX John de Vega, curate of the hospital and vicar of the city of Huánuco, was being drawn by a desperate infirmity to the end of his life, and had fortified himself for the passage with the Sacraments of the Church suited to that time.
[568] is granted sudden health: Yet for all that he had not yet cast away all hope, because he remembered the great thaumaturge St. Nicholas of Tolentino. Him therefore he called upon for patronage, and asked of the superior of the community that he would allow the image to be carried to his house. He obtained it; and he had it carried with a very great retinue and with very many torches and musical instruments. Having venerated it in its presence, he presently felt the help of this heavenly chief Physician, being made sound and strong before the image was carried back from his house to the monastery. He in testimony of his gratitude offered St. Nicholas a golden chain and a most costly ornament, endowing his chapel with four hundred pesos yearly, and choosing there the place of his own burial.
[569] That was a great thing, and a private one; what follows is the greatest and public, and altogether like that which we described at Potosí concerning our holy Father Augustine (book 16, chap. 4, num. 11). A drought of a whole year had brought a like calamity upon Huánuco; rain there obtained, and a pestilential disease driven away. a destruction with deadly pustules was raging everywhere; the greatness of the evil surpassed all human means: recourse is had to the heavenly ones, and by the common counsel of the citizens more than a hundred slips are inscribed with the names of Saints who, as experience had taught, more frequently give help to the needs of men; of which the one that was drawn first contained the name of St. Nicholas of Tolentino. A procession is appointed in his honor the same evening, with no small number of flagellants accompanying; and they had not yet finished it when the abundance of falling rain bade them hasten the remainder of the way, and in that same week the whole sickness of pustules throughout the city ceased. Thus far Brulius. Now, before I set an end to the account of the miracles, I gladly confess again that I do not doubt that there exist more miracles of this Saint, truly a Thaumaturge, throughout the whole world; but to gather them all seemed to me neither necessary nor ready to hand.