ON BL. ROLAND DE' MEDICI, ANCHORITE AT BORGO IN THE PALLAVICINO DOMAIN,
IN ITALY.
In the year 1386.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The cult of the Blessed one: his Acts and Miracles to be published from manuscripts.
Roland de' Medici, anchorite at Borgo in the Pallavicino domain, in Italy (Bl.)
BY J. S.
Although Bl. Roland is unknown to all the Martyrologies, yet he is venerated on this day as Blessed, The Blessed one unknown to the Martyrologies, died and his cult is certain and indubitable. Ludovico Cavitelli in the Annals of Cremona, at the year 1386, writes thus of him, as of a Blessed one near to the people of Cremona: In the following year Roland de' Medici, a Milanese anchorite, after he had stayed with the utmost abstinence for twenty-six years in the rough and solitary places of the Alps of Borgo, in the diocese of Piacenza, and had been found there by the inhabitants, was led thence into the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary there, and there, having made confession of his sins to a Carmelite religious, and having received the Eucharist from his hands with great reverence, on the fifth day of September gave up the ghost; and his body was conveyed to Busseto and laid in a chapel there dedicated to him, by the care of the illustrious marquises Pallavicino, who ruled there and in the village of Borgo: and at that body, by the grace of almighty God and the merits of that Roland, many miracles were wrought, on account of which he was reckoned among the Blessed. Thus far Cavitelli, in whose account I observe that the day of the Blessed one's death is wrongly fixed, which is perhaps rather a fault of the printing than of the writing. Certainly all others agree that Bl. Roland died not on the fifth but on the fifteenth of September: and on the XV day he is in fact venerated.
[2] Giovanni Eraclio Christanelli, of the Society of Jesus, rector of Busseto, on the XV day of September: in the year 1681 wrote the following to our Papebroch concerning the cult of Bl. Roland and other matters pertaining hereto: The day of the death of Bl. Roland de' Medici of Milan was the XV of September: for on this day he is venerated at Busseto in the church of the confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity, where the body of that same Servant of God rests. He died in the year MCCCLXXXVI. And in this agree Ludovico Cavitelli, a patrician of Cremona, in his manuscript book of the Annals of Cremona, folio 138, and Ranuzio Pico, secretary of the most serene lord duke of Parma, in the Life of that Blessed one written out and given to the press at Piacenza in the year MDCXXXVI. There agrees likewise with the aforesaid as to day and year the manuscript Life of the same blessed Roland on parchment, existing in the archive of the distinguished collegiate church of the same city of Busseto, corroborated with the notarial marks and subscriptions of several notaries of the college of Busseto, in which are described very many miracles wrought by God the Best and Greatest through the merits of that same Servant of God, and also a prayer, or three prayers, of that Blessed one.
[3] His body is laid in a marble chest, on which, besides other things, the image of that Blessed one is seen carved: his tomb: relics exposed for veneration: and this is near the high altar, raised from the ground to a height of two feet, or thereabouts. There is a continual concourse to the said Blessed one, by whose intercession, besides other miracles, the greatest and innumerable graces are imparted especially to those who labour under pain of the head. Yet the venerable body of that Blessed one is not allowed to be seen, save very rarely and by the order and in the presence of our princes: a relic of him, however, is exhibited to the people to be venerated and kissed, and the relic is preserved in a certain little vessel or silver case. And what is more remarkable, the hood of the said Blessed one, which for more than the space of three centuries still remains entire, notwithstanding that the piety of the faithful uses it unceasingly to cover the head of those labouring under pain of the head, with a wonderful help to the sick of this kind: since the aforesaid hood is woven of wool, and hitherto has been marvellously unharmed by moths. Thus far Christanelli, adding certain other things concerning a lamp customarily lighted; which I omit as of less moment, because he himself observes that there are other relics also there, and thence doubts in whose honour chiefly it is lighted. But whatever may be the case concerning the lamp, the cult of the Blessed one is from what has been said certain and indubitable.
[4] The body of the Blessed one was elevated in the year 1464, and then translated to that tomb raised above the ground. his body translated in the year 1464 to a new tomb, I gather these things from the manuscript notices sent hither by the aforesaid Christanelli. Among these notices are found the Acts of the visitation of the sacred body, written by Antonio de Sancto Vito, public notary. That visitation is said to have been made in the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-three, in the sixth Indiction, on the Saturday, the twenty-ninth day of the month of May. These chronological notes correspond nicely with one another, since in that year the Indiction was the sixth, and the XXIX day of May fell on a Saturday, as is gathered from that year's Dominical letter c. Further, in that visitation, as the Acts testify, above the bones of the Blessed one there was found a short writing, which ran thus: MCCCCLXIIII, on the first day of January, in this sepulchre were laid up the relics of the blessed Roland, which are these. And so it seems in no way to be doubted that already in the year 1464, that is, in the seventy-eighth year after his death, Roland was venerated as Blessed, and was placed in a new tomb by an honorific elevation and translation.
[5] and visited again in the year 1563. As concerns the visitation of the body, which I have already said was made in the year 1563, I shall select only the chief points from the Acts, lest I be too prolix and obscure if I bring hither the whole Acts with all their appendages. The visitation is said to have been made at the request of the most illustrious marquis Girolamo Pallavicino, lord of Busseto, and in the presence of very many of the clergy and people. Then, the said chest being opened — which was excellently closed with plates of iron and lead — there was found in it a wooden casket of the length of one cubit or thereabouts, and of half that width and height, closed; and this, being placed upon the high altar of the said church … was opened; and thereupon there began to issue a scent of wonderful sweetness and fragrance: and above the bones laid up and found in the said casket there was discovered a short writing on kid-skin parchment. The words of this writing I have already given above. And when at last the covering of red silk which covered the aforesaid bones had been removed, there were seen the head, the legs, the arms, and other parts of the body of the aforesaid Bl. Roland, although yet a small part is found turned to dust. It is presently added that all was again placed back in the chest, and that it was closed as it had been before. And the Acts are closed in due form, and to them subscribe four notaries, namely Paolo Majavacha, Giuseppe Bocelli, Scipione Stirpio, and Ottavio de Martianis. In the same Acts mention is made of a Life of the Blessed one, written long before.
[6] The Life faithfully written, as also the Miracles: That Life we received from the Medicean library, and it is noted in the margin as being had in shelf 2, codex 31, in quarto. And it bears this title:
On the Life, penance, death, and miracles of Bl. Roland de' Medici, who closed his last day in the castle of Borgo, of the bishopric of Parma, MCCCLXXXVI, on the XV day of the month of September. That the same Acts are preserved in the archive of Busseto we have from the letters praised before. From the opening it is quite clear that they were written in the same year in which Bl. Roland died. Hence they are altogether worthy of credit, even though they contain certain marvellous things. From the same library we received an account of several miracles, which has another author, but one equally faithful, as is gathered from the title prefixed, which is this: A gathering [] of the miracles of Bl. Roland, which were written down and received under the faithful testimony of divers persons, by the hand of Anselmino de' Raimondi of Cremona, notary by imperial authority, and in the church of the Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel in Cremona. This account, from which it is clear that the people of Cremona were especially devoted to Bl. Roland, I shall subjoin after the Life. Lastly, some Miracles were communicated to us from the archive of Busseto; but almost all of them are the same as those reported in the document to be published. It will therefore be enough if I compare this shorter writing with the other in the Notes, and add at the end whatever it may contain which is not found in the former. The Life of the Blessed one was written later by Ranuzio Pico, already praised, in his Work on the Saints of Parma, and by Silvano Razzi, On the Saints of Tuscany*, part 2, folio 87, both in Italian.
[7] notice of some places which occur in the Acts. For the rest, for an easier understanding of the Life and the miracles, it may be useful to observe a few things concerning the places in which the Blessed one now rests, and in which he lived before his death. The town of Buxetum, where the sacred body rests, in Italian Busseto, is situated between Parma and Piacenza, and almost over against Cremona, but two miles from the river Po, which divides the territory of Busseto from that of Cremona. That territory formerly obeyed its own marquis of the illustrious house of Pallavicino, to whom also was subject Borgo San Donnino, a neighbouring city now episcopal, with several towns and villages; but afterwards it passed to the duke of Parma, and to him it is subject even now. On the southern side of the Pallavicino domain, toward the Apennines and the Genoese territory, there are marked in the maps of the duchy of Parma the villages or towns, as they are called by some, of Bargonum, Tabbianum, Salsum, in the neighbourhood of which the Saint is said to have led an eremitical life. Rivarolum, which is added in other acts, I could not find in the maps. But it is without doubt a village of the same parts, unless an error has crept into the manuscript copy. Not all those places seem to be in the Pallavicino territory, in which Borgo is; but at least they are near to the said domain. These things being noted beforehand, I subjoin the Acts themselves.
Annotataelsewhere Pelagium*
LIFE
By a Contemporary Author
from a manuscript codex of the Medicean library.
Roland de' Medici, anchorite at Borgo in the Pallavicino domain, in Italy (Bl.)
BHL Number: 7291
From a Manuscript.
The austerity of the Blessed one, living in the open air, in his clothing, Be it known to all and singular who shall inspect the present writing, that in the year one thousand three hundred and sixty (namely, now, when the one thousand three hundred and eighty-sixth is running, twenty-six years have elapsed) the aforesaid Bl. Roland came to the parts of Borgo, Tabbiano, Salso, Rivarolo, and to the places round about, and there for the said time of the said twenty-six years he stood and dwelt: and through all that continuous time he kept silence, speaking to no one: and at the time of his said coming he was in a mournful and black garment: and he wore that so long that it came to rottenness, and of necessity he remained naked. Afterwards for the covering of his nakedness he used straw and chaff: and at last he made himself girdles of shells and leaves. Finally he used a goatskin neither dressed nor prepared, but so found by chance: and this was his use of garments. And through all the above-written time of the aforesaid twenty-six years, thus provided with garments as is contained above, he stood in the snows, hails, rains, in the continual burning of cold and heat, day and night having only the air for his covering, and even to the end of his life.
[2] In all the said time he used for food and bodily refreshment raw herbs, and in his food: his wonderful contemplation. fruits, and other things such as he could find in such a wild and wooded place. And because of the lack of fruits and herbs in the winter season, being afflicted with hunger, he was compelled to go to the outskirts of some place: where he made a sign with his hands, showing his naked body, and asked alms for the sustenance of his life, nor did he receive to superfluity, nay he never received to full satiety. In the aforesaid time the aforesaid Bl. Roland was seen by several persons worthy of credit, by day and by night, standing upon one foot for the space of five or six hours, with his eyes fixed within the orb of the sun and of the moon, most devoutly gazing upon God with arms uplifted b.
[3] Found among thorns, grievously suffering, But one day, while the honourable and excellent lady Antonia de Caxate of Cortona, consort of the magnificent and excellent knight lord Nicholas, marquis Pallavicino, whose is the castle and territory of Borgo, was going with her company for her recreation to hawk with the falcon; it happened that a certain one of her [] household saw the aforesaid Bl. Roland naked, and afflicted in body, as though breathing out his spirit, among the brambles, thorns and briars, beside the way in a certain dry wall, and he did not know who he might be. Seeing which, out of wonder he began to consider in his mind what that creature so afflicted might be. Swiftly he ran to the aforesaid lady, relating to her [] what he had seen. Which lady, leaving all else, went with her company to see. On seeing which, and while all of them were astonished with unwonted wonder, the aforesaid lady began to say: Could this man be he who for so long a time past has in these parts led so harsh a penance and life, according to the account and testimony of many who have often seen him? Truly this is he. Ask him peaceably whether he will come to Borgo, and provision shall be made for him in things necessary and fitting. But he gave neither sign nor answer.
[4] he is invited to Borgo, and comes to a neighbouring church, But the aforesaid lady, pricked with compassion, said: Could that devout creature die without confession? By all means, I pray, ask him that he deign to come to Borgo: and I will send my confessor, master Dominic de' Dominici of Cremona, of the Order of the Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel, professor of sacred Scripture, with whom he will be able to be consoled, and to be refreshed by him with spiritual banquets. Which things being heard, Bl. Roland began to rejoice in his mind, and by a nod and a cheerful sign, with arms uplifted, in the best manner he could, with head raised, expressed that he would be content with the coming of the aforenamed master Dominic. Which lady, giving up the hunt, returned to Borgo, and sent letters and money to the aforesaid master Dominic. But on the following night Bl. Roland went to the church which is outside Borgo, passing the night there. And on the following day the whole people of Borgo flocked together to see Bl. Roland. Meanwhile the aforesaid lady commanded that a bed should be prepared for Bl. Roland with a fitting honour and befitting the state of his sanctity. All which being made ready, the aforesaid Bl. Roland spurned them, and by nod and sign asked only straw for the sustenance of his [*] life.
[5] where a religious priest admonishes him concerning confession, Meanwhile the aforesaid master Dominic arrived at Borgo, and entered the church in which Bl. Roland lay, and greeted him, graciously expressing both how the aforesaid lady had sent on his behalf, and that Bl. Roland should take comfort. Which Bl. Roland having heard, he gazed upon the aforesaid master Dominic with fixed eyes, signifying by signs of his hands that he should drive all out of the church and shut the doors. Which being done, they looked upon one another mutually. At length master Dominic began to make a lengthy discourse, for nearly the space of two hours: and that he might draw something from him by his own words, he began to bind him with two arguments: first, arguing and pressing against him by that saying of the decree c: How under pain of excommunication every adult ought at least once in the year to make confession to the Vicar of Christ d in confession e. Secondly, he pressed against him how the angel of Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, leading the creatures of Christ into arduous and unwonted penances: by means of which they may be the cause of their own death, that he may lead them to perdition. To the aforesaid things Bl. Roland answered the aforesaid master Dominic in this form, first to the first: That he was not bound to confess, assigning the cause, because God so willed it; so He led and ruled him. To which master Dominic: This thou assertest, creature of God, because of that saying of the decree which is had in that chapter, "There are two laws": where the text says: "There are two laws, one written in the canons of the saints, approved by the holy Fathers, such as to confess once in the year, and the like. The other is the divine law, which is written by the finger of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the faithful, according to the saying of the Apostle": "Who have the law of God written in their hearts f. And this is nobler than the first. But that this second law overrides the first is plain from the Apostle and from the decree alleged": "If therefore ye are led by the Spirit of God, ye are not under the law"; And elsewhere it is had: "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty". Therefore, most devout creature, on account of these things premised g thou renderest thyself free from the confession not made in the time past. To which Bl. Roland answered: Ye say truly: for the Holy Spirit ruled and led me, and so I was not guilty as regards the first law.
[6] To the second he answered the aforesaid master Dominic, and being questioned concerning other things also, that in all things and through all he committed himself to the wisdom of his discretion, as regards the moderation and mitigation of his penance. And then the aforesaid master Dominic began subtly to question him for what cause, by what motive he had taken up such harsh penances, saying: Did ye take this up for great sins committed by you, or for a penance imposed upon you? Or didst thou do these things by the counsel of any man? To which he answered, that by divine inspiration alone, on account of his frequenting of Masses and of sermons h, and on account of the fear of the pains of hell, and on account of the joys of paradise, he had determined to tame his own frailty by such a goad. Which Bl. Roland he also questioned: How, upon one foot, he gazed thus with fixed eyes within the orbs of the sun and of the moon, since this is against the course of nature, for the space of five or six hours? To which he answered, that then he enjoyed divine grace, and was fed with spiritual banquets and nourishments in soul and likewise in body: asserting for a truth, that in that interval of time he clearly beheld
the face of Jesus Christ i within the orb of the sun and of the moon.
[7] And the said master Dominic by charitable instructions led that Bl. Roland to confession and to the reception of the Sacraments of the Church of God. he leads him to receive the Sacraments: the Blessed one's answers, And the said master Dominic asserted that, as he had subtly investigated, the aforesaid Bl. Roland in his whole penance, which was for the space of twenty-six years and more, notwithstanding insults, blows and expulsions k, never sinned in thought, in speech, or in deed. And then master Dominic said to him []: Have ye perchance sinned by omission? To which Bl. Roland answered: I have omitted nothing save those things which are not of God: nay, I have fulfilled the will of my Creator. Likewise the said master Dominic asked him whether in his penance he spoke with God with his mouth, or within himself? To whom he answered that he did not speak with the mouth, but with the mind steeped in divine grace. Likewise he asked him why he chose for himself so continual a silence? To whom Bl. Roland answered that it is the word of Divine Wisdom: In much speaking sin shall not be wanting.* Which Bl. Roland the aforesaid master Dominic with great entreaties induced, for the sustaining of his bodily life, to receive the broth of fowls and of wild birds: by which remedies he kept that same Bl. Roland in this mortal life for the space of twenty-six days.
[8] the form of his body: a vision before death: his pious departure. Which Bl. Roland was of great and comely stature, and was comely in his person: and he was afflicted, dried up, without flesh, with only the skin for the thinning and covering of his bones, so that he seemed another crucified man. And before the day of his death he related to master Dominic how he saw the angel Michael with a multitude of angels holding in their hands a most white linen cloth, and awaiting his soul. And in his passage to the Father of the angels, as to his soul and spirit he was received with hymns and spiritual canticles, and was carried into the bosom of Abraham l, the bells ringing without human aid; whose body with a very great and fitting company of clerics and laymen was solemnly and devoutly carried to the church of Busseto m and buried.
ANNOTATA.
* of him
* to him
* his
* to him
MIRACLES
By Anselmino de' Raimondi, notary of Cremona
From a manuscript codex of the Medicean library.
Roland de' Medici, anchorite at Borgo in the Pallavicino domain, in Italy (Bl.)
BHL Number: 7292
[A vision concerning the Blessed one's patronage: a healing: an apparition of Bl. Roland:] First, to the lady Francischina, of the neighbourhood a of St. Mary of Gonzaga, greatly afflicted by fear of the plague, the Virgin Mary appeared in a vision to her b, saying to her: Fear not, be secure, thou and the people of Cremona. For shortly, before me, who am the Queen of heaven, and before my Son Jesus Christ, all the faithful shall have a good advocate, a certain most devout man, by name Roland. And at once the lady Francischina, waking, began to believe: and this was three days before the death of the aforesaid Bl. Roland.
Likewise a certain Abraham de Giroldis, of the bishopric of Cremona, dropsical in body, was cured by the aforesaid Bl. Roland.
Likewise a certain lady Margaret, of the neighbourhood of St. Gerold of Cremona, had one sin which she had never been willing to confess through shame. Bl. Roland appeared to her in a vision, telling her to go to master Dominic his confessor; and to confess to him her sin, which she had never revealed: and that she ought to do according to the counsel of the said master Dominic, since afterwards he would be an advocate for her before God and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
[2] Likewise Bartolino de' Regazzi of Cremona had Bl. Roland in a vision: healings of various diseases, and by him he was freed from the skin-disease c and from a carbuncle.
Likewise Lombardina, wife of Albertino of Cremona, of the neighbourhood of St. Gallus, who was wholly withered in body and forsaken, was healed by the aforesaid Bl. Roland.
Likewise the lady Catherine, wife of John de Muzo, of the neighbourhood of St. Apollinaris of Cremona, was freed from the skin-disease and from a carbuncle by the aforesaid Bl. Roland.
Likewise the aforesaid Bl. Roland appeared in a vision to Bartholomew Dalmano Albertino, to the lady Catherine and to the lady Comina, all of Cremona, and healed them all of the skin-disease and of carbuncles.
Likewise Nigra, of the neighbourhood of St. Peter on the Po, was freed by the aforesaid Bl. Roland from the skin-disease and a carbuncle.
Likewise Girarda, wife of John of Lodi, was freed by the aforesaid Bl. Roland from a continual fever and from the skin-disease.
Likewise Bertolino, of the neighbourhood of St. Luke, was freed by the aforesaid Bl. Roland from the skin-disease.
Likewise Francischina, of the neighbourhood of St. Erasmus, was freed by the aforesaid Bl. Roland from the skin-disease and from a continual fever.
Likewise the wife of Nicholas of Pavia, of the neighbourhood of St. Peter on the Po, was healed by the aforesaid Bl. Roland of two carbuncles.
Likewise Salie of Pavia, a boatman of the neighbourhood of St. Luke, was freed from a pain of the kidneys and of the side by the aforesaid Bl. Roland.
Likewise James de Becho, of the neighbourhood of St. Silvester, was freed by the aforesaid Bl. Roland from the skin-disease and a carbuncle.
Likewise the daughter of the lady Francischina de Sessa was freed by the aforesaid Bl. Roland from a putrefaction of both shins.
[3] obtained by the Blessed one's patronage. Likewise Leona d, of the neighbourhood of the Holy Sepulchre, was freed by the aforesaid Bl. Roland from a lameness of the foot.
Likewise the lady Guarda, of the neighbourhood of St. Mary in Bethlehem, was freed from deafness and pain of the side by the aforesaid Bl. Roland.
Likewise the lady Catherine, of the neighbourhood of St. Gerold, who had lost her speech and was half dead, because she had recourse to Bl. Roland, was suddenly freed.
Likewise Gregory of Piacenza, of the neighbourhood of St. Michael, was freed by the aforesaid Bl. Roland from the skin-disease and from a carbuncle.
Likewise Bartholomew, of the neighbourhood of St. Gregory, was freed by the aforesaid Bl. Roland from the skin-disease.
Likewise Nicolina of Cremona, withered in body, was freed by the aforesaid Bl. Roland.
Likewise the lady Francischina, of the neighbourhood of St. Nazarius, having been led astray by the friars of the Order of Preachers not to believe in the aforesaid Bl. Roland, and having assented to them, was attacked by a continual fever and by the skin-disease: whereupon, from fear of death and then out of devotion, she grieved, and turned herself to the aforesaid Bl. Roland with a pouring out of tears, asking pardon: and suddenly she was freed.
Likewise Gasparino, son of Jacopino de' Guaragni, of the neighbourhood of St. Christopher, was freed from a fever and from the skin-disease by the aforesaid Bl. Roland.
Likewise Catherine, of the neighbourhood of St. James, was freed by the aforesaid Bl. Roland from a fever and from the skin-disease.
Likewise the lady Guigna, of the neighbourhood of St. Giles, who was wholly dry and consumed in body, was healed by the aforesaid Bl. Roland.
Likewise the lady Catherine, daughter of John de Gabianeta, of the neighbourhood of St. Michael, was freed from a fever and from the skin-disease by the aforesaid Bl. Roland.
Likewise John de' Cavalieri, of the neighbourhood of St. Luke, was freed from the skin-disease and from a carbuncle by the aforesaid Bl. Roland.
Likewise lord Andreolo de' Picenardi, of the neighbourhood of St. Erasmus, on account of a continual fever and the skin-disease lay for three days and three nights without sense, half dead, and without speech: in his mind he turned himself to the aforesaid Bl. Roland, and suddenly was freed.
Likewise brother James, monk of St. Peter on the Po, was freed from a deadly fever and from the skin-disease by the aforesaid Bl. Roland.
PRAYERS OF BL. ROLAND.
Three prayers concerning the Blessed one. We implore thy immeasurable Clemency, almighty eternal God, that thou who shinest in thine elect, whom thou hast commanded to dwell with thee and to glorify thee, grant us, we beseech thee, so worthily to venerate, by the merits of the penance of Bl. Roland thy devout one, his solemnities, that by the suffrage of his prayers we may deserve to become thy spiritual temple. Through our Lord, etc.
Another Prayer. For the happiness of our souls may thy immeasurable bounty receive, we beseech thee, O Lord our God, the burnt offering offered from our hands, that through the merits of this Bl. Roland thy devout one it may cleanse us from all offences. Through our Lord, etc.
Another Prayer. Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, to us thy servants, that through the merits of the penance of Bl. Roland thy devout one, by his pious intervention we may be protected from all adversities e. Through our Lord, etc.
ANNOTATA.
APPENDIX.
Roland de' Medici, anchorite at Borgo in the Pallavicino domain, in Italy (Bl.)
[ ] A woman long vexed by demons, From the archive of Busseto there was also transmitted the following account, written by a notary: In the name of Christ, Amen. In the year from the Nativity of the Lord MCCCCLXXXIV, in the second Indiction, on the fourth day of the month of April, the lady Antoniola, wife of Lawrence Daiarius, of Borgo San Donnino, in the presence of us, the Lord Don Cosmas de Rotiis, chaplain and servitor, Martin de Vastis, and Master James Calolarius, witnesses called upon, being stationed in the chapel of the greater church of St. Bartholomew, the church of Busseto, of the diocese of Cremona, of her own accord and out of certain knowledge of mind, to the praise and honour of almighty God and of blessed Roland de' Medici, whose most holy body rests in this land of Busseto, said, confessed and protested, and doth protest, that, when she had fasted the vigil of St. Geminian last past, and on that same night was grievously vexed by the demons who had held and were holding her oppressed for the nine years last elapsed, as the demons themselves testified, etc. I do not subjoin the whole account, because it is written so wretchedly and faultily that, although I am able to understand the matter itself, I cannot give all the words, since some are faultily expressed and some also are omitted. Wherefore I set forth the whole matter in summary.
[2] is freed, Bl. Roland appearing with St. Geminian. There appeared on that very night to the waking Antoniola Saint Geminian on the right and blessed Roland on the left, holding staves in their hands, and they said that they had come to free her from the demons. It is added that Bl. Roland explained to the woman that he was Bl. Roland and the other St. Geminian, and gave her his staff to touch. Then she fell into sleep, and had various dreams. But thenceforth she was free from the vexation of the demons. Now I observe a few things by way of explanation. Borgo San Donnino, where that woman dwelt, is now an episcopal city, situated in the Pallavicino dominion, almost midway between Parma and Piacenza, and has in its diocese Busseto itself, formerly the head of the Pallavicino dominion. But long after this event the aforesaid city obtained the episcopal dignity from Clement VIII, namely in the year 1601, as may be seen in Ughelli, volume 2, column 63 of the latest edition, where the Pontifical Bull itself is printed. As concerns St. Geminian, who is said to have appeared with Bl. Roland, without doubt there is designated St. Geminian, bishop of Modena, who is venerated on the XXXI of January.