Dalmatius Monerius

ON BL. DALMATIUS MONERIUS, CONFESSOR, OF THE ORDER OF FRIARS PREACHERS,

AT GIRONA IN CATALONIA,

In the year MCCCXLI.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Dalmatius Monerius, confessor, of the Order of Preachers, at Girona in Catalonia (B.)

BY J. P.

§ I. By whom his Acts were written, and in what manner they are here to be exhibited.

[ ] Of this Blessed man, whom Juan López, often to be praised below, asserts must deservedly be counted among the men more illustrious in sanctity of the most illustrious Order of Preachers, His Life written by a contemporary Father Nicolau Eymerich composed a Life, a man very famous of the same Order, who, on the witness of Francisco Diago, likewise to be mentioned several times in the course of this, put on the habit of the Order in the same monastery of Girona in which blessed Dalmatius lived, in the year 1334, about seven years before his death, and had the Blessed man himself as master in his novitiate. Jacques Échard, tom. 1 of the Bibliotheca of the Preachers, pag. 709, among the many Works of the same Eymerich mentions the aforesaid Life in these words: The Life of Brother Dalmatius Moner of blessed memory, a nursling of the convent of Girona, notable for sanctity of life, once his master in the novitiate of Religion, who died in the year MCCCXLI on September XXIIII. This, from an old manuscript codex of Eymerich, Diago exhibits, History of the Province of Aragon, fol. 259, etc. So it is; Diago exhibits it in the place cited, but in Spanish; whereas nevertheless, unless I am much mistaken, it was first written in Latin by Eymerich. Indeed both Échard himself urges this, who is everywhere wont to express the titles of Works in the same language in which they were written out, and here expresses it in Latin; and also a fragment from the same Life found by me elsewhere in Latin, and to be recited in its place.

[2] This was the reason why, having some months ago set about gathering whatever could be useful for elucidating the Blessed man's deeds, being wanting to us; and seeing that that Life was wanting in our Museum, I interrupted the labor for a while, until a letter should be written to Girona, where I understood the autograph was kept, and I might thence obtain a copy both of it and of others, if any lie hidden there conducing to the illustrating of the Blessed man's glory. And that it is kept there in the monastery of the Dominican fathers, the authors to be alleged several times, together with Diago, everywhere affirm; and our most holy lord Benedict XIV, supreme Pontiff, confirms it, book 2 On the Beatification of the Servants of God and the Canonization of the Blessed, chapter 24, num. 154, where, after enumerating the chief writers on our Blessed man's deeds, he adds: Yet a more illustrious monument for the present matter is to be taken from a manuscript book which is kept in the library of the Fathers Preachers at Girona, and which was cited in the said process, drawn up, as he had premised, by ordinary authority at Girona in the year 1714 concerning the immemorial cult, of which toward the end of the Commentary we shall discourse somewhat more fully.

[3] It was written therefore to Girona, an episcopal city in the province of Catalonia in Spain: we shall give his deeds but whether our letter did not reach there, which is less likely, or the reply with the documents went astray, or finally some other cause hindered, no answer has been brought hither. Hence, after a long waiting, the narrowness of time has brought us to this, that either the Blessed man had to be placed among the Prætermissi, to be given on another day, or his deeds had to be gathered from published books without the aid of the aforesaid manuscript Life. We embrace the latter part: first, because we see no other day to which it could fitly be deferred; secondly, because we are uncertain whether, even if we wait longer and press again, it would be granted; thirdly, because, if at any time after this Commentary is printed it be obtained, it can be laid aside with many other documents destined for the supplement of the whole Work. Let us consult therefore our authors, and consider at what time they brought forth their lucubrations into the light, and with what aids they were furnished for framing them, that the reader himself may perceive on what authority rest the things which are to be brought forward by us from them.

[4] from more recent writers, of whom Francisco Diago published in Spanish at Barcelona in the year 1599 the History of the Province of Aragon of the Order of Preachers, of which he was a nursling, divided into two books. In book 1, fol. 52, having related the deeds of Nicolau Eymerich, he says that he had seen and diligently gone over his Works, existing in the convent of his Order at Girona, and had taken thence what was then of use. In book 2, fol. 265 verso, after a prolix narration about blessed Dalmatius' Acts and miracles before and after his death, he affirms that all, except two miracles there assigned and to be pointed out by me afterward, are contained in the History written by Brother Nicolau

Eymerich, formerly the Blessed man's disciple in Religion, and inserted in a very ancient parchment codex of the convent of Girona. And those two miracles he signifies that he received from the Treatise on the Illustrious Men of that same province of Aragon, which had for its author Baltasar Sorió, also an Aragonese Dominican, who died in the year 1555, but which does not seem to have gone to press.

[5] an account Antoni Vicent Domènech, a Religious of the same institute and province, who died in that same convent of Girona in the year 1606, published in print in the year 1602 the History of the Saints and illustrious men of Catalonia, and in part 2 of it, pag. 39, the Life of blessed Dalmatius, taken, as he notes, from Eymerich's manuscript codex of Girona and from Sorió and Diago. But, if you except nine or ten little lines at the beginning, he transcribed Diago word for word, as we say, both in what he here relates from Eymerich and in what he attributes to Sorió. There is added Juan López, likewise a Spaniard of the Dominican family, in part 3 of the General History of the Order, printed at Valladolid in the year 1613, where at pag. 43 he gives blessed Dalmatius' Acts, and cites in the margin the same Diago and Sorió; but toward the end of pag. 56 he appeals also to the authority of Eymerich in the Girona codex. But he, although he likewise wrote in Spanish, differs in style from Diago and Domènech, sometimes omits something, and not seldom interrupts the relation with intermingled examples of Saints, teachings of the Fathers, and observations of his own.

[6] In Italian the Blessed man's deeds have been treated by two authors whom I know, and the method of writing Religious of the same Order, Giovanni Michele Pio and Domenico Maria Marchese; the first in book 2 On Illustrious Men, published at Bologna in the year 1620, who however will be of no or at any rate of small use to us, since he offers only a compendium and cites Diago and Domènech alone: the other in the fifth volume of the Dominican Diary at the day XXIV of September; and he cites in the first place the process drawn up at Girona, then Eymerich, Diago, Pio and others whom he does not name. But Marchese produces no particular fact, whether pertaining to the Life or to the miracles and cult, down to the year 1603, but that the same is found in the Spanish authors, although sometimes different in circumstances or rather in the order and manner of narrating; on the contrary he passes over in silence some things related by them, and others, set forth by them in particular, he touches only in general. Nor does he report anything done in the Blessed man's cause from the year 1603, in which the alleged process began to be drawn up, until 1613, but that the very same is read more fully and distinctly in Juan López, then living, part 4 of the History of the Order, published in the year 1615, who both cites the same process and confirms many things about the immemorial cult from it, as we shall see afterward. He has one thing which is later than López' edition, and which therefore he could not have learned from the process drawn up long before.

[7] In French too Jacques Lafon wove a prolix History of the Blessed man's deeds in the Dominican Year at the day XXIV of September; is here premised, yet he does not seem to have been furnished with other aids than published books, which he marks in the margin — namely Marchese's Diary, the Histories of Diago and López, and the Spanish Martyrology, of which presently; and he used Marchese indeed above the rest, as I notice from the order of the things narrated, from the omissions and abridgments. Nor did Latin writers pass the Blessed man over: of him Abraham Bzowski treats in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year 1341, num. 18, alleging Diago alone, whom he so abridged that he reduced into almost one column of a page what in Diago occupies six leaves and a half, of a smaller size however, or thirteen wholly full pages. Finally Tamayo in the Martyrology of Spain announces the Blessed man thus on this day: At Girona in Catalonia in Spain, the deposition of blessed Dalmatius, a nursling of the Order of Preachers: who, endowed with wondrous abstinence, conspicuous for admirable humility, and inimitable in acts of penance, guarded with the whiteness of virginity until the last breath of his life, deserved a cult among the people of Girona by the frequency of miracles. Then in the Notes he assigns Diago and the other Spanish writers mentioned by me, from whom he subjoins a Synopsis of the Acts. This, and let the same be said of Bzowski's, since it is too brief for the Blessed man's deeds to be sufficiently known through it, and is endowed with no other authority than that of the authors whence it was received, is useless for our purpose. It remains therefore that we choose from the others those whom we judge fitter for the same purpose.

[8] That Diago and Domènech are to be preferred to the rest, as being more ancient and nearer to the fount itself — the Life, I mean, left by Eymerich — no one will easily deny, provided he consider what I have observed on Marchese. and it is set forth who are to be preferred to whom; These therefore I shall here follow as guides, and where in Marchese or others something occurs which shall seem worth noting, I shall advise the reader: yet I shall not give their very words, but only the chief facts, other things being sometimes cut away, and more often the circumstances of the events which I shall have judged less necessary. From a strict translation I have abstained, not because Diago's or Domènech's fidelity was suspect to me; but first because I knew that the original Acts exist, and those, unless I am much mistaken, written out in Latin; for in such a case we are not wont strictly to translate the translations of others; and scarcely ever such rigid and strict ones: secondly, because, even granting that my opinion deceived me, and that the original Acts had been written in Spanish, not even then would it be established whether Diago transcribed them plainly and simply, or rather — which is the more frequent case — arranged the deeds taken thence in his own style and order; since he only says that what he has narrated is contained in Eymerich's History, not that it is that History itself.

[9] there is added the reason why we translate no one's Work Nay, that it is not Eymerich's own History we gather by a quite likely conjecture from Benedict XIV, the Pontiff praised above, who, after he had referred the reader for a knowledge of the virtues, miracles and cult to Diago and others, subjoins: Yet a more illustrious monument for the present matter is to be taken from a manuscript book which is kept in the library of the Fathers Preachers at Girona, etc. For an assertion of this kind regards indeed primarily the antiquity and authority of the Work, but, so far as I judge, hints at the same time at some difference from the published Works, if not in the things narrated, at least in the language, or in the arrangement of the things narrated, or in the order and manner of writing. Besides, the same most holy Lord says in the same place, book 2, chapter 24, num. 154: And Nicolau (Eymerich) himself, to pass over the rest, in the Life just mentioned (which, as the Pontiff had said before, was cited in the process drawn up in the year 1714), recording the burial given to blessed Dalmatius' body, speaks thus: "And at the burial of that same Man of God there preached Brother Bernard Cescala, a little after provincial of the aforesaid province, a lettered, faithful and truthful man; and, when very many of the aforesaid miracles had been recited, he finally bore this testimony to the truth: I, being admonished by the confessor of this holy Man, who now at his death, and at other times in his life, had frequently heard his general confession, bear in his stead to this Man of God such testimony of the truth: that he felt no corruption at all either of mind or of flesh, nor ever had consent to any mortal crime whatsoever, nor a stained soul."

[10] strictly. Thence I should certainly conclude that Eymerich used the Latin language, did I not know that it sometimes happens that processes drawn up in a foreign tongue are sent to Rome, and a translation of them must then be made; in which case the Pontiff could have taken those words from the translation of the Life cited in the process. Nevertheless, whether Eymerich used the Latin tongue or the Spanish, I gather thence the more clearly that Diago either did not strictly translate the Latin Life, or did not transcribe the Spanish one plainly and simply. That the reader may gather this with me, it is useful to exhibit Diago's text rendered into Latin from the Spanish by a strict version: Brother Bernard Sescala preached, and concluded his sermon, when many miracles had already been recited which God had wrought through his Servant, saying: I, being admonished by the confessor of this holy Man, who now at his death heard his general confession, and had at other times frequently heard it, bear in his stead, for the proving of the blessed Religious' sanctity, this testimony of the truth. The rest agrees. Compare now the two texts, and you will see that the same thing is indeed narrated in both; but in a manner different enough that, although I have here studiously used the same Latin words, it cannot be called a strict translation or a plain transcription. Further, on this occasion it is useful to add Marchese's text also, that it may be plain that he adhered still less rigidly to the limits of translation, and that on this head too he must be set after Diago and Domènech. It runs thus: His praises were preached by the father master Brother Bernard Cescala, who a little after was elected provincial of that province, and among other things which he said, one was that he knew from the testimony of the confessor who had heard the general confession of his whole life, that blessed Dalmatius was not only a virgin in mind and body, but also had never committed a mortal fault.

§ II. The Blessed man's birth; studies; entrance into Religion; austerity of life; virtues.

[ ] The Blessed man's country, parents, year of birth Blessed Dalmatius was born in Catalonia, in a place two miles distant from the city of Girona and called Santa Coloma de Farners, whence also, according to Lafon, the surname de Santa Coloma was given to the Blessed man himself; which however I have not found confirmed in others, who simply call him Dalmatius Monerius, or Moner, which without doubt is the family name: but neither do they supply anything for elucidating this, since they do not even assign the parents' names. Diago says that his father was very rich, his mother of a knightly family; López, that his parents were wealthy; Marchese, that his forebears were noble; Domènech, that his father was a husbandman and very rich — such as even now are the heirs of that same family — and his mother of a knightly family. He probably called him a husbandman from this, that, intent on cultivating through servants the fields in which he abounded, he lived in the country. Finally in the proper lessons of the Office the parents are said only in general to be honorable and pious. The year of his birth, which Lafon sets in 1289, others do not express; but if they rightly mark his age and his year of death, it must be fixed in 1291, since they say he died on the XXIV of September in the year 1341, in the 50th year of his age.

[12] Having reached the age fit for studies, he was sent to Girona to give himself to them; his studies; of the monastic life but, having stayed there not very long, and noticing that there were many things in his native soil contrary to his progress, he sought Montpellier, a city of Gaul then flourishing in studies. Here he applied himself diligently to letters and to the exercises of piety, until, touched with a desire of embracing a more perfect life, he resolved to devote himself to the Order of Preachers, counting the twenty-second year of his age completed, as Diago, López and Domènech have it. And so, returning to his native country, he received the habit in the convent of Girona, in the

23rd year of his age according to the same, from whom Marchese somewhat dissents, writing in this manner: in the twenty-fifth year of his age, having become a Religious, he entered upon a new life. But that this fell from an inattentive pen is urged by himself toward the end, when he says that the Blessed man died in the fiftieth year of his age, and the twenty-seventh after taking the habit of St. Dominic.

[13] His novitiate being completed and his profession made, he took up the doctrines of philosophy with such effort — passing many nights sleepless — and with such fruit that afterward he was ordered to lecture on logic to others; the beginnings of his religious life, his flight from vainglory but after two years spent on that office he made an end of teaching, and, that he might the more safely resist the pestilent wind of pride, he thereafter admitted neither a chair nor a prelacy, as the authors just praised relate, again excepting Marchese, who declares the matter somewhat more fully: Howsoever excellent progress he had made in philosophical and theological studies in the universities of Girona and of Paris, he could by no means be brought to admit titles of honor and dignity, much less a prelacy, being content in his simplicity to use the faculties acquired through the labors of study for the glory of God and the help of his neighbor. Thus he; but whence he learned of the Blessed man's studies in the university of Paris is unascertained by me; perhaps from the process of Girona, which he indicates served him as a guide; certainly the others have nothing of this kind, with whom I go on to relate the Blessed man's virtues.

[14] and from useless conversations, Shunning therefore all vainglory, if it ever happened that some one of the Religious in familiar conversation put forward anything in his praise, he presently withdrew himself thence in silence. For the same cause, and at the same time from the relish which he drew from the contemplation of heavenly things, being sometimes called by men even of eminence, who desired to visit him or to communicate their affairs to him, he either did not go to them or received them so coldly that they did not come back a second time. This they say happened to Peter, son of James II, king of Aragon, then count of Empúries, to Bernard de Cabrera the viscount, to Peter, bishop of Girona, and to many men of the first or of lower rank. But from converse with women of whatever state and age he shrank above all, never approaching them unless pressed by obedience or some other urgent cause; and then, with eyes fixed on the ground, allowing them to utter no word beyond what necessity required, he at once broke off the discourse and dismissed them.

[15] chiefly with women; Hence he would not have even his own sisters excepted; for it is reported that, being seized by a disease with which he struggled long, he most earnestly asked his Prior that leave to visit him should be given to no woman, not even to his own sister. And the Prior, lest he should grieve him, steadfastly refused entrance to the blessed Man's two sisters, weeping and wailing at the monastery door; although there was reason for granting it, since at that time, as López adds, there was not so great an observance of enclosure as there was afterward. With like caution the Servant of God took forethought for the purity of his soul and the integrity of his body, which he is believed to have preserved such and so great as he had received it at his birth, until his happy departure to heaven. And that he might lay for himself a smoother way to this, he ceased not to waste his body with abstinence, vigils, scourgings and other torments of that kind.

[16] his austerity in food He never ate flesh except in urgent infirmity: his food was pulse, boiled indeed but cooled again, roots or stalks of cabbage set for a moment on the coals, barley bread, or wheaten, but that hardened with dryness and ill baked; likewise he admitted no pottage either fresh or well seasoned. And when anything of more delicate food was set before him, he either diluted it with cold water or sprinkled it with dust to take away its savor. From wine he everywhere abstained; yet being sometimes compelled to use it because of the weakness of his stomach, he so broke its strength by mixing a quantity of water that it scarcely retained a savor; and what you may wonder at still more, in the height of summer for several, nay sometimes for twenty days, as our authors relate, he forbade himself all drink, and every fruit or other thing fit for allaying thirst, although a hot constitution of body often compelled him even in winter-time to temper the burning of his breast by sprinkling water or applying a stone. From rigor of this kind and from almost continual fastings, which besides those enjoined in the Church and piously kept in his Order he took upon himself of his own accord, we understand without difficulty what the same writers assert, that he was frequently reduced to such weakness that he could scarcely stand upon his feet, and was driven by his Superiors' command to take food.

[17] And indeed, lest that unusual bitterness in raging against himself should be deservedly judged to exceed the bounds of discretion, divinely approved; God himself seemed to hinder that judgment, when relief was prodigiously brought to him when he was worn out with thirst. his austerity in food They narrate that this happened when, about to make the journey from Barcelona to Tarragona (they are cities of Catalonia, about 15 Spanish miles distant from each other) in midsummer, he had refused a preserve of honey and roses offered by a pious matron, suited for tempering heat and thirst, saying that it was not lawful for those who profess poverty to carry about delicacies of that kind, and that, if there were any need, it would be supplied by divine Providence. For then, when some space of the road had been measured out and he was vehemently wearied and almost consumed with thirst, they say that a girl appeared who, holding out a little vessel, said: Brother Dalmatius, this is sent thee as a gift from my Lady. Receiving the little vessel, he found it full of a preserve of the same kind, but most pleasant in odor and most sweet in taste. But the girl presently so vanished that neither he nor his companion of the journey, although they were set on the top of a mountain, could anywhere find a trace of her; and thence the Blessed man understood that it had been sent him by the most holy Virgin Mother of God, to whom he was most tenderly devoted, as Marchese adds, who also declares the rest more fully, and, while the others are silent, calls the Blessed man's companion Bernard Scoli.

[18] He displayed his love of evangelical poverty both in all other things, his love of poverty; assiduous prayer; always choosing for himself whatever was cheapest, and especially in his garments, which he wore clean indeed, but made of coarser cloth, worn out by use and patched with sewn-on rags; so much so that Father Berenguer de Saltells, president of the whole province, once compelled him with a precept of obedience added to lay aside his torn habit and put on a new one. His cell was small, such as the younger men are wont to inhabit; his bed narrow, with a heap of twigs for a mattress; yet he frequently passed the nights in the upper story of the church, a very narrow place, praying and contemplating, until, his body overcome by sleep, he threw it on the ground, with his head leaning upon a piece of wood or a stone. This rule of living he did not interrupt even when, journeying from one place to another, or, as Marchese adds, going out to preach sermons, he had to pass the night outside the convent. For then, if he had a companion ignorant of his pious exercises, he went to bed until the other fell asleep, and, rising silently and giving himself to prayer until the first dawn, he sought his bed again.

[19] But what he diligently hid, God sometimes permitted to become manifest. his vigils; his bodily Three examples our authors supply: the first, when, rising from his bed by the aforesaid device, he struck his head against the sharp middle point of an iron shield hanging in the corner of the chamber, and received a grave wound; for although, at once committing himself to prayer, he obtained healing from the Lord, yet he was betrayed both by the scar of the blood which had flowed abundantly, and by his companion, who was himself also then awake, but had kept silence because the Blessed man, uttering no word after the hurt, gave himself to prayer. The second was received likewise from his companion, Brother Bernard Durand. He, leaping from his bed by night from some necessity, set his foot upon the neck of the Blessed man, who was praying and lying on the ground; but when he, though pushed a second time, remained motionless, thinking it was something else, he went away. On his return he wished to try a third time and nearer, and, encountering nothing at all (for meanwhile the Blessed man had risen), he understood what the matter had been. The third a boy discovered, whom blessed Dalmatius at Castellar, a place one mile distant from Girona, had taken as a guide to a nearby spring. Coming thither, the boy, being ordered by him to return home, hid himself in a thick tree to see what he would do. Nor had he long to wait; he saw the Blessed man stripped of his garments, and drenched with blood from the fierce blows of the scourges which he inflicted on himself, and then, when he had washed it off with water and resumed his garments, going away.

[20] afflictions; his regular observance; For the rest, although from what has been already related it may easily be gathered how assiduous he was in like works of penance, he reckoned these things lighter; he asked and obtained from his superiors leave to go into Provence to the cave of St. Mary Magdalen at La Baume, where, after the example of that blessed woman, he might more fully indulge his desire of tormenting himself: thither he set out and stayed some time; but what he desired, to end the course of his life there, was not permitted him; he was called back to his own. But that he might not be wholly frustrated of his wish, it was permitted him by the master general of the Order to inhabit a cave dug out within the monastery's enclosure in the living rock of the mountain, cold, damp, impervious to the sun's rays, and, as the writers say, a harborer of serpents. Here amid tears, groans and sighs, and bodily afflictions, according to the same writers, rather to be wondered at than imitated, he spent the whole four years in which after his return from Provence he survived among the living, separated from the fellowship of the Brethren, nor leaving his dear solitude except when the divine Office or regular observance called him to the church or elsewhere. And how great was the esteem of his regular observance among the Superiors was proved from this, that, when men more conspicuous for sanctity and more excellent in regular observance were sent to newly founded convents, to lay in them the beginnings of the religious life, blessed Dalmatius was everywhere chosen for that end.

[21] his lowliness of mind; the esteem in which all held him. No less do they praise his profound humility, excusing not even by a word a fault falsely laid upon him: to this purpose they report that he, being rashly accused in chapter before the master general — but perhaps out of no evil zeal — of having given occasion of wandering of mind to a Religious about to go to the altar, without any disturbance asked that the man be pointed out to him, and, presently falling at his feet, begged pardon for the deed, the master with the rest wondering at the Man's sanctity. Another instance of lowliness and of contempt of himself they relate that he gave, when, begging oil and perceiving that the servant was absent who should carry the skin, he snatched it from his companion's hands, set it on his shoulders, and carried it through the city, all the people looking on. For these and other virtues he was held a Saint by all, nor were there wanting those who, leaving aside his proper name, called him the Brother familiar with the angel, or, who spoke with the angel. But the authors do not explain whence this last appellation drew its origin: Diago and Domènech only add that the Blessed man, in the presence of Nicolau Eymerich, his first biographer, when Brother Joan Cardona asked why he went by that name among the people, answered that the people said truly, since daily in the divine Office he addressed the angels, saying: Bless the Lord, ye angels of the Lord. So he prudently indeed avoided the answer, but he could not

avoid this, that among men to whom his humility was known the suspicion should be increased that that report had not been spread among the common people without foundation. However that may be, that opinion so prevailed that it even passed into the proper lessons of the Office in these words: Because of his familiar intercourse with an angel he was called the Brother speaking with the angel. But let us go on to the other favors divinely granted him.

§ III. Favors divinely granted to the Blessed man; miracles before his death.

[ ] He is caught up into ecstasy; The austerity of life and the other exercises of piety related above were accompanied by an assiduous and most fervent prayer, and this by most frequent favors from heaven. Not all came to men's knowledge, since it was his constant practice, as may be understood from what has been said before, carefully to avoid the eyes and ears of witnesses in matters conducing to his own commendation: but, by divine providence permitting, neither did all lie wholly hidden. Praying in a place remote from concourse, he was seen by a household servant, with his arms stretched out in the form of a cross and his feet lifted from the ground, caught up in ecstasy. At another time he was found by Brother Bernard del Puerto, once Prior of the monastery, praying in his cell and likewise raised above the ground. The same was experienced by Brother Bernard de Aquanoctibus, who had accompanied the Blessed man outside the city of Girona to a solitary valley most fit for prayer: for when the time of returning home had come, and he did not find Dalmatius, he began to run about all the places, especially to look into the caves in which he knew he took delight, to call out with raised voice, and at last, lifting his eyes to a tree of the valley set in a very high place, he saw him coming down to his feet like a bird in a certain imperceptible flight, still then intent on prayer. Marchese adds that the Blessed man, restored to his senses, begged his companion to keep the matter in silence, and that he complied with him — namely until his death.

[23] That he was endowed also with a prophetic spirit, and by the help of a heavenly light penetrated the secrets of hearts, was established by many instances. he reveals hidden and future things Raymond Capater, a novice, overwhelmed with grief because he had given his name to so poor an Order, remained in his cell doubtful whether he should persevere or return to the world. The Blessed man came, and not only revealed whatever he had revolved in his mind, but, bidding him have recourse to prayer and serve God with a pure and pious heart, foretold that God would help him in his necessities. The novice obeyed the admonitions, nor was he ever afterward assailed by such a thought. A pious matron, by name Frexaneta, likewise overwhelmed with grief because of her son's long-lasting pain in one eye, curable by no remedies, for three nights continuously had a voice from heaven admonishing her that, laying aside her sadness, she should go to blessed Dalmatius and ask his prayers. She obeyed each time, but the first and the second time suffered a refusal, since the Blessed man after his manner declined converse with a woman. She returned a third time, declaring that she would not depart thence before he had come. He came at last, and, having understood the matter and consoled her, bade her return the next day, after he had celebrated the most sacred sacrifice of the Mass, in which he was to commend the matter to the Lord. When she came at the appointed time he received her with these words: Rejoice, lady, rejoice and give immense thanks to God. Then, declaring the cause, he said that it would certainly have come to pass that her son would have committed such things as would have brought great disgrace upon his parents, and would have brought about his own condemnation: but that, in favor of a pious work most acceptable to God performed by them in that very year in which the pain had seized her son's eye, that grave evil had been changed into a lighter and more tolerable one. Further, that her son would be deprived of that eye, but that all pain would at once cease. The outcome proved the truth of the prediction. So, but somewhat more fully, Diago sets forth the matter with Domènech and López. According to Marchese, after the Blessed man had signified to the mother that her son had been hindered by the divinely sent pain of his eye from committing a crime for which he would have had to be punished by the executioner's hand with an ignominious death, he not only foretold the loss of the eye and the ceasing of the pain, but also many troubles and infirmities that would befall the parents for their greater good, which they afterward bore patiently.

[24] of various kinds; he obtains health for the sick To these Diago, Domènech and López add the following predictions, narrated by them also at length, and here contracted into a compendium: when, being asked, he had commended to God in his prayers the dying wife of Ponç Malars, he asserted that she would not die of that sickness: and truly after some days she was restored to full health. Likewise, prayers being poured out for another woman in labor and near to death, he sent her husband, bathed in tears, back to the woman's chamber, saying that she was past the danger and had borne a son. Peter de Sierra, a jurist of Girona, whose wife was then for the third day struggling with the pains of childbirth, sent a letter toward night asking the Blessed man's prayers with God, and he, complying, wrote back a little after that she would bring forth a firstborn son the next morning. One or other of those already named, whom they here call the aforesaid lord of Campayas, experienced at other times also the Blessed man's power in prayers and his prophetic spirit, although he resisted and called himself a sinner: and first indeed when his wife was again in danger of her life from the pains of childbirth; for then the Blessed man bade him be present at his Mass, and, before it was brought to an end, yet after the receiving of the most precious Body and Blood of the Lord, he advised him in a low voice to go home quickly, since his wife was safe and had borne a son. Secondly, when that same wife of his was at the point of death from a most burning fever: for when he had recourse to him, the Blessed man after a brief prayer told him that it was well with the woman: and he, returning home, found his wife whole. Further, as here, so to each of the things already mentioned our authors add that whatever the Blessed man had foretold truly came to pass; and hence they pass to other miracles, which for the greater part at least, likewise reduced to a compendium from them, I set forth in Latin.

[25] he helps the absent; An honorable matron, journeying in the company of the countess of Urgell, had been compelled by a violent fever to stay at Girona. Meanwhile, being informed of the report of blessed Dalmatius' sanctity, she brought it about that the Prior of the convent visited her with him. The Blessed man heard her confession, and presently, having prayed the Lord for her, left her free of the fever and whole. Bernard Seyol and Joan de Cardona, Religious of the same Order, were going from Valencia to Tortosa, and were distant from that city of Catalonia by only two miles, when both a violent rain and the darkness of the on-coming night shut off from them the knowledge of the right path. Straying therefore, and ignorant what at last to do, they invoked Dalmatius, and beheld standing by them a young man (most beautiful in aspect, as Marchese adds, and carrying a torch in his hand) who led them by an unusual and short path to the city: they invited him to supper, but, answering that he needed no food, he vanished. Both afterward related the matter secretly to blessed Dalmatius with thanksgiving; but he rebuked them, and admonished them not to bring such things to him thereafter. To the Blessed man likewise absent Brother Francesc Losa ascribed his own and his companion's deliverance from captivity to pirates. He had committed himself to the Mediterranean sea in a small boat from the island of Majorca; but when they were still ten miles distant from Ibiza or Ebusus, another island of the same sea, toward which they were sailing, they saw a ship following most swiftly: at once blessed Dalmatius' help was invoked; and so favorable a wind drove the boat that the pirates could not overtake it before the Religious had leapt ashore and escaped the danger.

[26] Brute animals also are said to have felt blessed Dalmatius' power; Brute beasts obey him, and the sun complies with him; especially two dogs, of whom one, raging and rushing upon the Blessed man's companion, went off at his slight sign, and the other was wonderfully hindered from further disturbing him as he was at the altar; and a bull, to which, when dying, the same Blessed man after a short prayer so restored its strength that it at once rose, ate, and was fit for its accustomed labors. Besides these, the sun itself was seen to serve his wishes. It happened that, while the Blessed man was acting as guardian of the sacristy and, according to his office, was about to make wax candles, the sky was covered with a thick cloud. Nonetheless he set out the wax in the middle of the cloister, and there waited until the sun should supply rays for softening it. When some space of time had passed, some Religious, detecting no sign of brightness, had begun to laugh at the Man's patience, when suddenly a great and burning ray, very bright and shining, broke through the thick cloud and sent itself upon the hands of Dalmatius alone as he prayed; and so persisting until he had completed the work, it hid itself again in the cloud.

[27] The miracles thus far briefly set forth in Latin, and narrated more fully in Spanish by Diago and others from the codex — probably also Latin — of Nicolau Eymerich, a contemporary author, he is said to have snatched a sinner from the devil's bondage the same Diago follows with two from the manuscript Treatise on the Illustrious Men of the Order of St. Dominic in the province of Aragon, by Baltasar Sorió, whom we read to have flourished in the 15th and 16th centuries. Take each in a few words. As blessed Dalmatius was preaching a sermon, a man who had bound himself and his soul over to the devil was pricked in heart, and after the sermon was ended presented himself as a suppliant to the Blessed man, to confess his sins. This the demon took so ill that he seized by the feet the man prostrate at his knees, and, though the Blessed man resisted, drawing him back with his arms with all his effort, and the people being amazed, dragged him to the church doors: where at last the Blessed man prevailed, and, returning to the tribunal of confession, went on with the work piously begun. Meanwhile the enemy returned and, drawing the man in the same manner, brought him as far as the middle of the church: but here he was compelled to yield to Dalmatius drawing him back as before. He returned a third time, but could not move the happy penitent from the place, and, departing in fury, poured out many curses upon the Confessor, which were heard by the people, though he himself was not seen.

[28] A great prodigy indeed, which would that we could confirm by the testimony of a more ancient writer in a manner plainly wonderful; another prodigy. than Baltasar Sorió! He indeed is said to have died, more than a hundred years old, in the year 1557, that is, the two hundred and sixteenth after the Blessed man's death. Certainly, the circumstances being considered, it could not but have been very well known throughout the whole city of Girona, where, on Marchese's witness, it happened; nor accordingly could it have lain hidden from Nicolau Eymerich, who was born there, put on the habit in the same convent, dwelt with the Blessed man, and long survived him. But, these things standing, what cause shall I say there is why he, who was wont to note down matters much slighter, which Diago and others relate from him, and which I have here and there passed over, should have suppressed in silence so notable a prodigy? And that he did suppress it in silence, or at least reported it in another and most probably a less miraculous manner, the authors just praised bid us believe, when, leaving him, they have recourse to Sorió's relation and authority, which here can in no way be compared with Eymerich's authority. These things being observed, I go on to another, which likewise rests on Sorió's authority alone

I find: it stands thus as to substance. In the summer season, blessed Dalmatius, having set out on a long journey on foot, noticed that his companion was being consumed with thirst; hence, touched with compassion, he gave himself to prayer, and at once there stood by them a most beautiful young man, who, when he had offered the thirsty man water to be drawn from a little vessel, departed or vanished, as López and Marchese have it.

§ IV. The Blessed man's death and the miracles which followed it; the beginnings of his cult.

[ ] The Blessed man's last illness and his assurance about his salvation, A life so holily passed was followed by a death memorable also for more than one prodigy. It was hastened by a flux of the bowels, which, continuing for a month and a half, stole away what remained of strength from a body much wasted by fastings and other works of penance. But that weakness, as our authors relate, did not hinder him from keeping both his eyes constantly fixed on the image of Christ crucified and his hands raised to heaven. The same report as a prodigious thing what follows: There had come to the cave of him thus lying sick — for he did not leave it until his death — the parish priest of a place one mile distant from Girona, called Master James, most intimate with him: and he, being far removed from his bed, conversing with Brother Peter de Undare in so low a voice that they scarcely understood one another, asked whether the Blessed man had cleansed his soul by the Sacrament of penance. But at once Dalmatius, raising his voice, repeated three times that a full absolution of his faults had been granted him. A like answer he gave to the same parish priest on another day when he exhorted him to search his soul diligently and commend it to God. But when he came a third time he addressed him thus: That after my departure thou mayest never be anxious about me, know, know, master James, that I am certain that all my offenses have been mercifully forgiven me.

[30] his pious death, which, appearing to an absent friend, Not long after this, according to our authors — nay, on that very day, if I rightly understand the account of the apparition made to that same parish priest — at the time when he passed to heaven, the Blessed man, most piously fortified with the last Sacraments of the dying, in a circle of the most eminent fathers of the province, who had then come together to Girona for a chapter, happily gave up his soul to his Creator in his cave, toward the night of the day XXIV of September in the year 1341, in the 50th year of his age and the 27th of his Religion, as is gathered from what was said before. They add that then to a pious woman named Blanca, dwelling in the neighborhood and set in prayer, there was seen above the cave a great light, coming down from heaven and departing as soon as he had breathed forth his spirit. But also in his passing he bade farewell to the friend, the parish priest just mentioned, and confirmed what he had asserted before his death. They set forth the matter in this order. When the aforesaid parish priest had returned home three or four hours before — doubtless from the monastery where he had last visited the Blessed man — and had already committed himself to his bed, yet being still awake, he had Dalmatius, suffused with splendor, standing by him unexpectedly and saying with a clear and distinct voice: Farewell, farewell, master James, I set out for heaven. Then, seeing him ascending upward through the air, he uttered so great a cry that his household ran up, to whom, when they asked what the matter was, he declared the vision.

[31] he announces; the wonderful beauty of his body; On the following day at first light he hastened to Girona to the monastery, whose church, when he first entered it, he found his Friend's sacred body set out in the middle of the choir; he asked at what hour he had died, and from the answer learned that at that very hour he had been seen by him in his own chamber. For the rest, neither did the body itself lack a prodigy: for it, if the authors rightly describe it where they treat of his austere rule of living, being by nature by no means comely, had, with fastings, vigils, haircloths, scourgings and the rest of his austerities added, become so lean, dark and misshapen that it struck terror into those who beheld it; but after his death it put on a wholly different appearance, a countenance so pleasant, bright and white that it bore some likeness of the glory to come after the resurrection. It can indeed be no doubt that both that most welcome spectacle and the fame of sanctity and miracles which he had among the people of Girona while alive drew and enticed to the church a vast multitude of men of every rank and age. Among those who were present at the obsequies, most honorable in every respect as the writers attest, are reckoned Arnau de Montrodon, bishop of Girona, the chapter, the clergy, several Religious of the Order of St. Francis, and the chief fathers of the Order of St. Dominic, who, as was said above, had come thither from the whole province for the chapter. Of the dead man's praises Father Bernard Cescala spoke to the assembled multitude, and from the testimony of him who had heard the Blessed man confessing, both in his last illness the faults of his whole past life, and often at other times, he asserted that Dalmatius had been all his life free from every corruption of soul or body, and had never consented to any grievous fault: Eymerich's own words were given at num. 9.

[32] with various miracles His happy death was followed by many benefits and miracles at his invocation, which, like the preceding, I declare in few words on the credit of the same authors. In the first place they narrate the health suddenly granted to a lady of the first rank, whom Diago and Domènech call in Spanish the marchioness de Santa Pau, and others render de Sancta Pace. She had labored under a flux of the bowels and a fever for fifteen days, when from Fathers Gaspar Seyol and Guillem del Conde, Religious of the Order of St. Dominic, she learned of blessed Dalmatius' death and of the miracles wrought after it. Encouraged by these she ordered to be brought to her a Marian chaplet, commonly a Rosary, which had once belonged to the Blessed man, and, piously reciting it with the other women standing by and often kissing it, she made a vow that, if she were freed from that grievous infirmity, she would take care that at her own expense an honorable tomb should be made, into which the Blessed man's sacred body should be transferred. The benefit followed the vow; at once she found herself thoroughly healed, and munificently discharged what she had promised, as we shall see below.

[33] soon after his death The report of the benefit just narrated, being brought to Raymond de Agario, who was lying sick of the same disease so weak that he could not move himself, was an occasion for him also to experience the Blessed man's help. He vowed therefore both a wax candle equalling the weight of his own body, and whatever is required for committing anyone to burial, and at once rose from his bed whole, strong and brisk. A nun of the Order of St. Francis also found our Blessed man beneficent, who, as soon as she learned of his death, commended herself to him most devoutly, and thereafter suffered no access of the quartan fever with which she had been vexed for many months. Of that same disease a religious man, whom Diago names Bonanat Serrado, felt himself free as soon as he had vowed to blessed Dalmatius a two-pound taper.

[34] he shines with miracles In the year 1348 the pestilence which was then raging widely through the city had brought the wife of Miquel Martin, a merchant of Girona, to such a state that all things necessary for her burial were already made ready. Her husband grieved above all that she had neither provided for temporal matters by a testament nor taken counsel for her soul's salvation by receiving the Sacraments. Therefore he went to the dying woman, deprived indeed of speech but not of all sense, and advised her to commend herself to blessed Dalmatius, with whom she had long been on familiar terms. She complied, and he himself added a vow of offering at the Blessed man's tomb whatever had been prepared for his wife's burial. Presently she recovered her speech, cleansed her faults by sacred confession, made her testament, and, being wholly free from all fever, gave innumerable thanks to the Blessed man for having escaped both death and the peril of her soul. That miracle Lafon also narrates in French, yet with this difference, that what is related by our Spaniards of the wife he ascribes to the husband, and the contrary. Peter de Undare, a religious — doubtless the same whom we mentioned at the beginning of this § — had his eyes so ill affected that he feared he would utterly lose his sight: as he prayed at the Blessed man's tomb and bound himself by some vow, all the malady left him. The wife of Bernard Corder, an inhabitant of Girona, professed that after the death of blessed Dalmatius, with whom her parents had been joined in friendship, she had never asked anything of him without obtaining her wish. Four benefits in particular they record as granted, after a vow made to the Blessed man, in the case of her little son: the first when he, in the opinion of all dead, was suddenly recalled to life: the second and third when, being near death from fever, and at another time from quinsy, he at once received full health; the fourth finally when, being pushed by boys playing with him from a high place onto a rock beneath, he had one foot so ill affected that all believed he would thereafter be maimed: but, she invoking blessed Dalmatius as she was wont, the boy was at once free from all danger, and — what is expressly added — began to run about as before.

[35] and helps particularly those afflicted with toothache. Now blessed Dalmatius seemed from the beginning to show his help particularly to those afflicted with pain of the teeth. For that cause one of his teeth, enclosed in a silver shrine, was kept in the sacristy of the monastery, to whose touch they might have recourse. Our authors review four who, being pitiably tormented, at the said touch were presently wholly free from all pain: a citizen of Girona named Simon; a woman of Banyoles; another pious matron; and another named Catharina, wife of Ferrer de Lagosteria, to which last Brother Guillem Arnaldo and Brother Bernard de Aquanoctibus, being asked, had carried blessed Dalmatius' tooth. Hence, on Diago's witness with others, there arose the custom, enduring until these times, that mothers bring their little ones to the monastery for easy teething, and take care that the Blessed man's tooth be applied to their gums and to their whole mouth. Here an end is set to the enumeration of the benefits and miracles by which a little after his death blessed Dalmatius became famous. A little, I say, after his death, for this abundantly appears not only from Diago's testimony, indicating that all are contained in the manuscript codex of Nicolau Eymerich, a contemporary author, but also from the very circumstances of the events: for part is said to have been done as soon as his death was heard of, part to have been done for those, or at least in the presence of those, who had known him living: Miquel Martin had been on familiar terms with the Blessed man; the parents of Bernard Corder's wife had been joined to him in friendship; Peter de Undare was present with him in his last illness; Guillem Arnaldo was Prior in the same monastery while he was still living; Bernard de Aquanoctibus stood by as companion and witness when he was raised into the air outside the city of Girona.

[36] From the relation of the miracles Diago proceeds to the first translation of the body The cult and the first translation of the body, and the beginning of the public cult. Of these indeed he assigns no determined epoch; but that they are not much later than the Blessed man's death, he himself urges, since he does not distinguish them from those things which he says are contained in Eymerich's codex, and López, presently to be cited, confirms it by the testimonies he brings forward. I conceive the matter thus from Diago's narration: Since the tokens of blessed Dalmatius' sanctity were so evident, his body was translated from the place of its first burial to the entrance

of the lower choir, and there laid on the right side in a marble tomb: above the tomb an altar was erected, and adorned with paintings representing the Blessed man's deeds and miracles; the chief of these, set namely in the middle of the altar, exhibits the Blessed man dark and misshapen of countenance, the others white and comely; and thence the author concludes that in that one alone he was painted from the life; and not amiss, as we easily gather from what we have reported above about his appearance while he lived, and about the change of it in his dead body.

A pattern of humility, and clean from stain, A solid preacher, he gave a rule of sanctity, Named of Monerius, this brother Dalmatius, Now exalted with God, let him be favorable to us. Adorned with miracles, fervent in charity, Praised for his abstinences, and shining with purity, Born into heaven on the Kalends of October, here entombed. In three hundred and a thousand and forty-one years Then passed, he died, now rewarded for his merits.

That blessed Dalmatius died on the day XXIV of September, or the eighth of the Kalends of October, is the one opinion of all: hence the observation of Diago and others becomes most likely, who say that in the epitaph just recited — according to which his death would otherwise have fallen on the very Kalends, that is, the first day of the month of October — the word eighth was omitted, and that for the verse's sake, or rather to preserve such measures as the little verses had.

[38] To the epitaph there is subjoined in Diago and Domènech an Antiphon with a Collect, an ancient antiphon and collect. anciently wont to be recited for invoking the Blessed man's intercession with God, as follows.

Ant. Let us suppliantly implore this Father's suffrage, That before the Son of God he may pray for us continually, That after this life we may happily obtain joy.

Vers. Pray for us, blessed Dalmatius:

Resp. That we may be made worthy, etc.

Collect. O God, who hast adorned thy humble servant Dalmatius with many signs and virtues, and hast wonderfully kindled him in thy love, temporal things being despised, grant us, we beseech thee, so to be helped by his merits and prayers that we may deserve always to be freed from all adversities. Through Christ, etc. Here the two authors just praised stop, not observing whether the Blessed man was in their age venerated with an ecclesiastical Office or not; which nevertheless they could most easily have known, since both were Religious of the same province and Domènech died in the very monastery of Girona. López, who flourished in the same age with them, affirms it, unless I ill grasp his mind, for the said monastery of Girona, as we shall see in the following §.

§ V. The immemorial cult approved at Rome; the Office assigned with proper lessons and collect; the indulgences granted.

[ ] The continuance of the cult proved I find nothing particular pertaining to blessed Dalmatius' cult committed to writing before the year 1603, in which the people of Girona began to labor to promote his beatification by Apostolic authority, as Juan López teaches in part 4, chapter 54, of the General History of the Order of St. Dominic, who flourished at that time. He says first that the opinion of blessed Dalmatius' sanctity and miracles had persevered until his own times, and then goes on with these words rendered from Spanish into Latin: But although it be held for certain that by faculty of the Apostolic See there was reading about the blessed Father in the said convent (of Girona); yet, since there exists no testimony of it which would win credence, both the city and the convent desired that his Holiness should grant Bulls, by virtue of which there might be reading about him in the bishopric of Girona. To this end, as the same author goes on to narrate, on the third day of March in the year 1603 an inquiry was set up about his life, death and miracles, through which were proved those things which Diago supplied to us about the beginnings of the cult in the preceding §, and what López here asserted in general about the continuance of the opinion of his sanctity down to his own age.

[40] from the process of the year 1603; For, on the same López' witness, from the said inquiry or process it was established, first, that Dalmatius from his very death until these times had been held a Saint, and had gone by that name among all: it was established, secondly, that already for more than two hundred and fifty years he had had an altar, and in the middle of it a painted effigy crowned with golden rays, bearing in its hand a white lily, the symbol of virginity, with an angel standing by as though conversing, and a Religious kneeling at his feet in the posture of one praying; and besides this other paintings hanging round about, in which, in the same manner in which the deeds and miracles of Saints and Blessed are wont to be set forth, his also are seen expressed: thirdly, it was established that his body had been translated from the place of its first burial into a precious tomb of marble, on which were carved little verses about his Life, death and miracles, and which the Marchioness de Sancta Pace (see above, num. 32) had caused to be made; and that it had remained in it and had been honored with a burning lamp until the last translation: it was established finally, fourthly, from the deposition of witnesses, that from time immemorial praises had been sung to him by the pious monks, as to other Saints, with a special Collect.

[41] indulgences granted by Pope Paul V; The process, containing these and other things, together with letters of Francisco Arévalo de Zuazo, bishop of Girona, and also of the governors of that same city, in which they most earnestly begged for the beatification, was sent to Paul V, the Roman Pontiff, in the year one thousand six hundred and ten, as López marks; but I doubt whether rightly; the first reason is that in that whole chapter, except in this one place, he keeps an ordered series of years; the second and chief is that he presently subjoins that a favor was granted by the same Pontiff to those visiting the Blessed man's chapel on the thirty-first day of August in the year one thousand six hundred and seven — that is, three years before the process would have been sent, which becomes to me less likely; I should think therefore that in the first place, by a fault either of the pen or of the type, the Spanish word diez crept in for seys, and that the process was sent in the year one thousand six hundred and six, not ten. Further, the favor just mentioned López calls a jubilee for all who, having duly confessed and been refreshed with the most holy Eucharist, should visit blessed Dalmatius' chapel on the day XXIV of September, consecrated to his festivity. Of the same favor Marchese and Lafon make mention; but they call them plenary indulgences, to be gained from the first Vespers of the said day until sunset.

[42] In the next following year he began to be honored with public and solemn veneration among his own countrymen, his relics and cult the inhabitants of Santa Coloma; who then obtained a part of his relics, as from López' more prolix narration I briefly set forth. On the day XXIV of September of the year 1608 the whole clergy and people of the said place — men, women, boys and old men — in an ordered procession after the rite of suppliants, went on foot to the city of Girona, and there at the doors of the church of the Order of St. Dominic were received and led in by the bishop. Blessed Dalmatius' tomb being opened, the Prior with his assistants took thence a bone of the arm and committed it to the bishop's hands, who, having piously venerated it with the rest, fortified it with his letters, and delivered it to the parish priests and magistrate of the said place of Santa Coloma, with the faculty added of building a chapel with an altar to the Blessed man, of instituting a confraternity in his honor, and of celebrating yearly the day XXIV of September like other feasts of precept. And the same author adds that, when the sacred relics were drawn out of the tomb, a most sweet odor was perceived, which the bystanders judged to be heavenly.

[43] This prodigy also he mingles with his relation: in the Blessed man's native place; while the suppliant company of the people of Santa Coloma, as we have recorded, was making for the church of the Order of St. Dominic, a Religious of the Order of St. Francis was assisting a dying woman despaired of by the physicians; and he, on the occasion of the pious multitude passing by, advised the dying woman to commend herself, at least by an inward feeling, to blessed Dalmatius; she complied, and at once, though still weak, yet found herself whole, and without delay asking for food, declared that she had been healed by blessed Dalmatius; and the Religious and the woman's ordinary physician declared by their testimony that the healing had been miraculous. Further, the people of Santa Coloma, joyful in their treasure, and returning home in the same order and manner in which they had come, erected a chapel with an altar to the Blessed man, set the sacred bone in a silver arm adorned with gems of great price, and, according to the faculty granted them by the bishop, kept his yearly festivity. There was added to the increase of piety the favor of the same supreme Pontiff Paul V, who also in the year 1609, on the day XXIX of June, transmitted to them plenary indulgences, to be gained by all who, having duly confessed and been refreshed with the sacred Banquet, should visit the said chapel — probably, though the author does not add it, on the often-mentioned day XXIV of the month of September.

[44] The people of Girona again gave an illustrious specimen of their veneration toward the Blessed man in the year 1613, a second translation of the body in the year 1613 when both a new altar was built for him and a magnificent tomb of marble made for the translation of his body. The altar Onofre Reart, then bishop of Girona, consecrated to his honor on the V day of September, and appointed the XXII day of the same month beforehand for the translation of the relics. This, on the preceding day toward evening, festal illuminations and other signs of common joy throughout the whole city announced. On the day itself there came together to the church, besides a vast multitude of the people, the bishop with the college of canons, the magistrates and persons of the first rank. Mass was celebrated with pontifical rite amid the musical harmonies of many instruments and voices: Vespers likewise were solemnly sung in the afternoon. These being ended, the bishop, clothed in pontifical vesture, with the canons and Religious in order went in procession to the Blessed man's tomb, and, the sacred bones being taken thence, humbly venerated them himself and showed them to others for veneration; then set them in a more seemly casket, to be carried round through the city in solemn pomp.

[45] performed solemnly by the people of Girona, To the festivity there had come all the pious confraternities of the city, and these, in a long train and furnished with many lights, accompanied both the sacred biers of other Saints and blessed Dalmatius' reliquary, which, an acolyte with a censer going before, Religious bore on their shoulders, and the prætor and governors of the city covered with a sacred canopy; the bishop with his own closed the procession. Thus, with a choir of musicians singing various hymns, the sacred relics were carried through the chief squares, and at last, being brought back to the new chapel, after the Collect proper to the Blessed man had been said, were laid up by the bishop in the marble tomb, likewise recently and magnificently made, as we saw above. To the solemn translation, the order and manner of which López indicates was committed to writing by the bishop's notary, there succeeded, after one intervening day, the Blessed man's festivity, which was celebrated that year with a great concourse of the people, and so continues to be celebrated on the day XXIV of September, as though it were of precept. So the said author, who two years after — namely in the year 1615 — published from the press at Valladolid that part of the History whence we have taken these things; where, after resigning the bishopric of Monopoli in the kingdom of Naples in the year 1608, he passed the remainder of his life among his own Dominicans.

[46] and their piety in celebrating his feast; The same things which López relates here Marchese and Lafon also narrate, but much more briefly; and Lafon indeed in one place does not seem rightly to have grasped his mind, where, writing that at Girona plenary indulgences are had on the feast-day of blessed Dalmatius, he adds these words in French: Which is very solemn, and of precept. For this neither López says, nor any other whom I have seen; but only that that feast-day is celebrated as though it were of precept, that is, that those very things are observed by the people out of piety on that day which are to be observed by the Church's precept on certain other festivals through the year. That López' words must be taken in this sense the present Roman Pontiff Benedict XIV does not allow us to doubt, in his illustrious Work On the Beatification of the Servants of God and the Canonization of the Blessed, book 2, chapter 13, num. 3, writing in this manner: In the cause of blessed Dalmatius Monerius, when his immemorial cult was being disputed, the act of the senate of Girona presently to be stated was held as a public cult. When in memory of the city's deliverance from a siege by the French the same senate had decreed to vow a yearly celebration of blessed Dalmatius' feast, and for that had implored the bishop's authority (for without ecclesiastical authority, from what is to be said elsewhere, a feast of precept cannot be instituted), but the bishop had refused to assent, lest too great a multiplication of feasts should be burdensome to the people; he published an edict by which he besought the citizens to celebrate the Blessed man's anniversary day like the feasts of precept.

[47] indulgences renewed by Pope Urban VIII. These things not obscurely hint that the people of Girona ascribed their deliverance from the said siege to blessed Dalmatius' merits; but at what time or in what manner it happened I could not discover, any more than on what occasion Urban VIII renewed the plenary indulgences granted before by the Pontiff Paul V for the church of the Fathers Preachers of Girona, as we learn from Marchese, who transcribes some words in Latin from Urban's letters to show that in them the title of Saint is attributed to Dalmatius. And they are these: On the feast-day of the same St. Dalmatius, from first Vespers until the sunset of that feast, in each year, etc. Further, such is our penury of documents, such the scantiness of writers even more recent in published books, that not only is it not permitted to declare further what has already been alleged about the observance of the feast-day and the indulgences granted — of which not even in the Bullarium of the Dominican fathers does any mention occur — but neither to bring forward anything down to the beginning of the current 18th century, in which at last the Blessed man's cause was resumed at Girona and carried at Rome to an equivalent beatification.

[48] Our author here is that same most blessed lord of ours, Benedict XIV, His cause resumed for Beatification in the year 1714; who at that time discharged the office of Promoter of the faith. In book 2 of the praised Work, chapter 24, num. 153, he relates the following: This Blessed man (Dalmatius) died in the year MCCCXLI. A process being afterward drawn up by ordinary authority about the year MDCCXIV concerning his immemorial cult, a sentence was passed by judges delegated by the bishop of Girona, which at last was approved, with Innocent XIII of holy memory assenting, by the Congregation of sacred rites. That no account was here taken of another process, drawn up also by ordinary authority at Girona at the beginning of the preceding century, and, according to López, sent to Pope Paul V, I gather from the same Pontiff Benedict, chapter 37, num. 2, of the aforecited book, writing in this manner: While I was discharging the office of Promoter of the faith, when the postulators of the cause of Girona of blessed Dalmatius Monerius of the Order of Preachers asked for a dispensation from the ten-year period, which had not yet elapsed from the day of the exhibition of the ordinary process, the sacred Congregation, on my pointing out that the aforesaid cause was proceeding by the way of an excepted case, answered on the day XV of February: THERE IS NO NEED. But there is no doubt that that earlier process, if its autograph or a copy was then preserved, brought much facility, nay and authority also, to the drawing up of the other.

[49] But the sentence, together with Innocent XIII's approval mentioned in the first place, he sets down before, in chapter 24, num. 152, conceived in these words: the immemorial cult approved at Rome in 1721; The commission of the introduction of the cause of the beatification and canonization of the aforesaid Dalmatius Monerius, called Blessed, having been admitted by the Congregation of sacred rites, held on the day XV of the month of July MDCCXIX, with Pope Clement XI of holy memory also assenting, and successively signed by the same most Holy Father; and now, according to the tenor of the aforesaid commission, at the instance of the father master Tomás Ripoll, professed priest of the Order of St. Dominic, provincial of the Holy Land and postulator of this cause, the undersigned doubt having been proposed and discussed by the most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal Scotti, Reporter in the sacred Congregation of rites: Whether the sentence passed by the judges delegated by the most reverend bishop of Girona concerning the immemorial cult and the case excepted from the decrees of Urban VIII of happy memory is to be confirmed in this case, etc.: the same sacred Congregation of rites, the Reverend Father Dom Prospero de Lambertinis, Promoter of the faith, having first been heard both in writing and by word of mouth, judged that answer should be made in the affirmative, if it shall seem good to our most Holy Lord. On the day IX of August MDCCXXI.

And afterward, a report of the aforesaid having been made by me the secretary to our most holy lord Pope Innocent XIII, his Holiness graciously assented on the day XIII of the same month and year MDCCXXI.

[50] That sentence, which thus approved contains an equivalent beatification, was followed in the year 1726 the Office granted in 1726 by the granting of an Office and Mass under the double rite from the common of confessors not bishops, for the places and persons designated in the decree, which, according to the autograph and the copies printed at Rome by the press of the reverend Apostolic chamber, was inserted in tom. 6 of the Bullarium of the Order of Preachers, pag. 597, and which I transfer thence hither: Whereas on the day IX of August MDCCXXI, Pope Innocent XIII of holy memory afterward assenting on the day XIII of the same month and year, the sacred Congregation of rites judged that the sentence passed by the judges delegated by the bishop of Girona concerning the immemorial cult shown to blessed Dalmatius Monerius was to be confirmed; and whereas now, on the part of the most reverend Father Tomás Ripoll, master general of the Order of Preachers, earnest supplication has been made to the sacred Congregation of rites for the granting of an Office and Mass of him under the double rite from the Common of confessors not bishops: the same sacred Congregation, the most humble entreaties also being added which were directed by the bishop of Girona to our most holy lord Pope Benedict XIII and remitted by his Holiness to the same, on the report of the most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal Scotti, the most reverend Prospero de Lambertinis, archbishop of Theodosia, Promoter of the faith, having first been heard in writing and by word of mouth, judged that the Office of blessed Dalmatius Monerius asked for, under the double rite, could be granted, to be recited in future on the day XXIV of September, the anniversary of his falling asleep in the Lord, both in the whole Order of Preachers of either sex, and also by all ecclesiastics, secular and regular, of either sex, of the aforesaid city and of the whole diocese respectively, where the same Blessed man had his birth, and where his body is venerated in the church of the said Fathers with the highest devotion of the people, and that a Mass might be celebrated, if it shall seem good to our most holy Lord. On the day XXV of May MDCCXXVI.

And afterward, a report of the aforesaid having been made by me the secretary to our most holy Lord, his Holiness graciously assented. On the day XIX of June of the same year MDCCXXVI.

C. Cardinal de Marinis, prefect.

In place ✠ of the seal

N. M. Tedeschi, Archbishop of Apamea, secretary of the sacred congregation of rites.

[51] with a collect and lessons In that same year there were designated for the Blessed man's Office a Collect partly agreeing with and partly different from that which, anciently wont to be recited, I gave above at num. 38, and proper lessons of the second Nocturn, comprising his chief deeds, which, together with the supreme Pontiff's decree subjoined, I transfer hither from tom. 6 of the said Bullarium, pag. 599.

Collect. O God, who hast adorned thy humble servant Dalmatius with many signs and virtues, and hast wonderfully kindled him in thy love, temporal things being despised; grant us, we beseech thee, that by his intercession, being disentangled from earthly affections and freed from all adversities, we may seek only heavenly things. Through our Lord, etc.

Lesson IV. Dalmatius Monerius, a Spaniard by nation, born in the principality of Catalonia, in the town of Santa Coloma de Farners, of the diocese of Girona, of honorable and pious parents, from his earliest age gave tokens of his future sanctity by the whiteness and innocence of his morals. As a youth, being instructed in the liberal disciplines at Girona, aspiring to a higher palm of learning and virtue, he went to Montpellier: where, cultivating his mind with letters and good morals, and carefully avoiding all incitements of evils, he studiously kept his body and mind unstained from any defilement. And when he had greatly advanced in the sciences and in virtues, he returned to his native land. Thence, being called by God, sending a farewell to the world, to which he had never clung in heart, he received at Girona the habit of the Order of Preachers. At the very beginning of his Religion he composed his morals most exactly to the prescripts of the laws, and perseveringly kept until the end that same rule of living which he had at first set for himself.

[52] Lesson V. Despising all earthly things and desiring heavenly things alone, proper to him, that he might the more freely serve God, he humbly resigned the office of teaching, which for several years he had discharged with the highest praise. He was of a most hard austerity and wonderful abstinence. He fed for the most part on pulse and the roots of herbs scarcely set upon the fire; flesh he took only when infirmity compelled him: wine he used either never or very rarely, and often for twenty days, even in summer-time, he abstained utterly from all drink. Assiduous in prayer and meditation day and night, wearied with vigils and fastings, he rested a little upon the bare ground. His virgin flesh also he afflicted with a rough haircloth and with frequent scourgings even to the shedding of blood. By a prophetic spirit he foretold many things to come, many times penetrated the secrets of hearts, and while praying was often seen to be lifted on high. Because of his familiar intercourse with an angel he was called the Brother speaking with the angel; and those who were oppressed by any adversity, being sometimes divinely admonished, flocked to him as to the Consoler of all.

[53] Lesson VI. He carried with him no supports of temporal life when he made a journey; which are here recited, nay, he modestly refused those offered by others, placing all his hope in the Lord alone, from whom many times things were sent him by angels according to his need. Purposing in some measure to imitate the penance of holy Mary Magdalen, whom he particularly venerated, he cut for himself a secret and rough dwelling in the living rock within the enclosure of the monastery; where for four years until his death he lay hidden. In this prison, reducing his body to servitude by works of stricter penance, he retained such and so great an integrity that he never felt any corruption either of flesh or of mind. At last, full of virtues and merits, on the twenty-fourth day of September in the year of salvation one thousand three hundred and forty-one, and in the fiftieth of his age, he fell asleep in the Lord at Girona; whom, living and dead,

they report to have shone with many miracles. Further, Pope Innocent the thirteenth approved his cult: and that his feast with an Office and Mass might be celebrated both in the whole Order of Preachers and in the city of Girona, which rejoices in his singular protection and is daily increased with countless benefits from God by his patronage, and in the whole diocese respectively by all its clergy, Benedict the thirteenth graciously granted.

The decree subjoined to the lessons runs thus: Our most holy Lord Pope Benedict XIII, at the most humble prayers of the most reverend Father Brother Tomás Ripoll, master general of the Order of Preachers, has graciously indulged and granted that the above-written lessons of the II Nocturn with the proper Collect in the Office of blessed Dalmatius Monerius on the day XXIV of September may and ought in future to be recited by all of either sex of the whole Order of Preachers, and also by all ecclesiastics, secular as well as regular, of the city and diocese of Girona, who are bound to the canonical hours. On the day IV of August MDCCXXVI.

C. Cardinal de Marinis, prefect.

In place ✠ of the seal

N. M. Tedeschi, archbishop of Apamea, secretary of the sacred congregation of rites.

[54] and with indulgences to be gained in the same year on the day 24 of September. The same most blessed Pontiff, that he might the more stir up the minds of the faithful to celebrate that festivity piously, granted for the said year 1726 plenary indulgences to be gained in all the churches of the Order of Preachers, as is set forth in the Decree, which I likewise transcribe here: Pope Benedict XIII. To all the faithful of Christ who shall inspect these present letters, greeting and the Apostolic blessing. Intent with pious charity, from the heavenly treasures of the Church, upon increasing the religion of the faithful and the salvation of souls; to each and all of the faithful of Christ of either sex, truly penitent and having confessed and been refreshed with holy Communion, who shall devoutly visit any of the churches of the brethren of the Order of Preachers, wheresoever existing, on the twenty-fourth day of the next coming month of September, from first Vespers until the sunset of that same day, and shall there pour out pious prayers to God for the concord of Christian princes, the extirpation of heresies, and the exaltation of holy Mother Church, we mercifully grant in the Lord a plenary indulgence and remission of all their sins. These presents to be valid for one occasion. And we will that, if for the obtaining, presentation, admission or publication of these presents anything, even the least, be given, or being freely offered be received, these presents shall be null; and that to transcripts or copies of these presents, even printed ones, subscribed by the hand of some public notary and fortified with the seal of a person constituted in ecclesiastical dignity, the very same credit shall be given as would be given to these presents themselves, if they were exhibited or shown. Given at Rome at St. Mary Major, under the Fisherman's ring, on the day XVII of August MDCCXXVI; in the third year of our Pontificate.

F. Card. Oliverius. The editor of the Bullarium on this decree, as on the preceding ones recited from him, advises that it was printed according to the Roman exemplar, and notes that blessed Dalmatius' feast was in this year MDCCXXVI celebrated for the first time — namely in the whole Order of Preachers, or rather in those churches of it dispersed throughout the world to which the knowledge of the decrees could come in that year; for that it had been celebrated before at Girona, we have abundantly seen.