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A46959
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Purgatory prov'd by miracles collected out of Roman-Catholick authors : with some remarkable histories relating to British, English, and Irish saints : with a preface concerning the miracles.
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Johnson, Samuel, 1649-1703.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing J837; ESTC R11404
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43,137
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48
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venerial motions and immodest postures before the whole Assembly And then becoming as it were distracted they fell bitterly upon one another changing their superficial Love into Cruelty and Hatred And then were by the Infernals in like manner as the former as also all Fornicators are with punishments beyond description Then two Backbiters enter'd with wry faces and odd grimaces The two heads of a burning Spear were put into their mouths which knawing upon with distorted looks they quickly met at the middle and then tearing one another they all embru'd their faces with biting Then Thieves Incendiaries and Violators of holy places were introduc'd and were rackâ—d by the Devils upon burning Wheels and sundry other Instruments of torment The Rustick likewise saw near the entrance of the lower Hall as it were four Streets the first was full of innumerable Furnaces and Cauldrons fill'd with flaming Pitch other Liquids and boiling of souls whose heads were like those of black Fishes in the seething Liquor The second had its Cauldrons stor'd with Snow and Ice to torment souls with horrid Cold. The third had thereof boiling Sulphur and other materials affording the worst of stinks for the vexing of souls that had wallow'd in the filth of Lust. The fourth had Cauldrons of a most horrid salt and black Water Now sinners of all sorts were alternately tormented in these Cauldrons Now returning to the Temple upon the Mount of Joy the Rustick had a sight of the introduction of pure white souls and was made sensible how much they were help'd to the possession of eternal Joys by the means of the Masses of their Friends in the World nay and saw many of his Acquaintance dancing Attendance upon St. Michael for admittance That Saint likewise shew'd him the several Mansions and Apartments of those that gradually mounted up to infinite Happiness and how they at certain hours each day heard Canticles from Heaven as if all the sorts of Musick in the World had joyn'd in consort Then he led him to a place all bedeckt with infinite variety of Flowers and Herbs having a most clear Fountain branching it self into four streams of a various Liquor and colour Upon this Fountain stood a most beautiful Tree of a wonderful bigness and immense height affording all sorts of Fruits and the flavour of all Spices Under this Tree near the Fountain lay a man of a graceful mien and Gigantick stature having a Vestment on from his breast to his feet of various colours and wonderful beauty he seem'd to laugh with one Eye and weep with the other This is Adam quoth St. Michael who by his smiling Eye denotes the joy he receives from the ineffable glorification of his Sons that are to be â—aved and by the other weeping one denounces the sorrow he undergoes on the account of the rebrobation of some of his Sons and the just Judgment of God upon the damned The Vestment with which he is covered but not a compleat Robe is the Vest of Immortality and Glory which he was stript of at his first prevarication for he began to receive this Vest from Abel his just Son till now thro' the whole succession of his just Sons And as the Elect shine with various Virtues so this Vest is pictured of a various colour When the number of the Elect Sons shall be compleat then Adam shall be all over cloath'd with a Robe of Immortality and Glory and so the World shall be at an end Then the Saint led the Rustick into a much more ravishing place than any yet seen and there shew'd him St. Catharina St. Margareta and St. Ositha whose beauty having admired St. Michael bid St. Iulian convey him back to his Body and accordingly did so but how is not known He lay as it were in a Trance for two days and two nights after but after that repairing to Church he was sollicited by the Priest and his Parishoners to acquaint them with his Revelations but he declining so to do St. Iulian appear'd to him the night following and commanded him to gratifie them in that point And in obedience to the Saint he gave an account of his Vision in the English Tongue with such Eloquence as created admiration in all his Auditors and the more as having been known to have ever been a man of narrow sence and few words The occasion of the Institution of a set and solemn day for the Praying for Souls out of Purgatory THE Cardinal Peter Damian a very holy and very learned man writes in the Life of St. Odilo Abbot of Cluny who died in the year of our Lord 1048 that a Religious man of France returning from Hierusalem was by a Tempest carried to an Island or Rock where there was an holy Hermite who told him that there hard by were great burning flaming fires where the souls of the Dead were tormented that he heard the Devils oftentimes howl and complain for that by the Prayers and Alms of the Faithful the pains which those souls suffered were mitigated and the souls freed out of their hands and that particularly they complained of Odiolo Abbot and his Monks for their care and vigilance in favouring and helping them and conjured the Religious man because he was a French-man and knew the Monastery of Cluny as he said and the Abbot Odilo to entreat the said Abbot and to charge him in his name to persevere in that holy Exercise and by his fervent Prayers and continual Alms to endeavour to give refreshment to the souls of our Brethren that are tormented in Purgatory that so the joy of the Blessed might be increased in Heaven and the sorrow of the Devils in Hell. The Religious man returned into France communicated that which he had heard of the holy Hermite with Odilo Abbot and with all that blessed Congregation which was under his charge And the Abbot ordained that in all his Monasteries upon the second of November the day after the Festivity of All Saints should be made a particular Commemoration of the Dead and that especial care should be used to succour and relieve them by Prayers Alms and Masses And that which St. Odilo instituted in his Convents was afterwards received and established by Apostolical Authority in the whole Universal Church Peter Galefinus Protonotary Apostolical says that many write that Pope Iohn XVI instituted this Commemoration by the counsel and advice of St. Odilo It is true that Almarius Fortunatus Bishop of Trevers who lived about 200 years before Odilo in a Book of the Ecclesiastical Offices which he wrote to Ludovicus Pius Emperour after the Office of the Saints he puts that of the Dead and he says that he did so because many depart out of this Life who do not go presently to Heaven for whom that Office was wont to be said which is a sign that even in his time this was done as Cardinal Baronius has noted And this is sufficient to declare the Institution of this Commemoration of the
and received the Bridle with much Devotion And God to whom nothing is impossible willing to reward the Faith of the Soldier vouchsaâ—ed to work many Miracles by that Bridle in Honour of his Martyr which the Soldier considering built a Church in Honour of St. Thomas and instead of Reliques put therein this Bridle of the cheating Priest. Mighty Wonders performed in the Behalf of those that invoked St. Thomas's help THere was a Bird says the Festivale that was taught to speak and could say St. Thomas it hapned that this Bird sitting out of his Cage a Spar Hawk seiz'd on it and was ready to kill it but the Bird crying St. Thomas help the Spar-Hawk fell down dead King Lewis of France was extraordinarily heard for coming over to offer at this Saints Tomb at Canterbury and praying for a safe Passage he obtained that neither he nor any other from thenceforth that crossed the Seas between Dover and Withsond should suffer any Loss or Shipwreck Again A special Friend of Thomas being under an Infirmity came to the Tomb of the Saint to pray for the recovery of his health which he received to the full But being return'd home he thought within himself that perhaps that Infirmity was inflicted on him for his Salvation and was for the greater profit of his Soul than Health was and therefore returning to the Sepulchre of the Saint he prayed That what should most conduce to his Salvation whether Sickness or Health that Thomas would obtain it for him of the Lord. Whereupon his Infirmity returned again upon him St. Thomas's Civility to other Saints in the matter of Cures A Clerk having been troubled with Vomiting and a bloody Flux and a Pain in his Eyes that he was almost blind he had for 15 days together implored the Martyrs help at Canterbury to whom St. Thomas at last appeared and bid him rise quickly and go to Durrham to St. Cuthbert and by his Merits he should obtain Mercy and Health For said he I will have my languishing Patients and Servants go to him for Cure and his come to me And the first day he came thither he was cured The peculiar Veneration paid to St. Thomas's Shrine even above that of the Blessed Virgin or that of Iesus Christ. WE are told of an Hundred thousand People that in some years have come to pay their Devotions to his Shrine Nay more that their Zeal towards him was so hot as sometimes they seemed to have but little consideration of the blessed Virgin her self and none at all of Christ. For there being three Altars in the Church of Canterbury one dedicated to Christ another to the Virgin Mary and a third to Thomas We are told out of an old lieger-Lieger-Book of that Church that one Year the Offerings at the Shrine of Thomas amounted to 954 l. 6 s. 3 d. when those to the blessed Virgin came only to 4 l. 1 s. 8 d. and to Christ nothing at all Of a Man that had his Eyes put out and his Privities cut off and was made perfect again by St. Thomas ONE Eilwardus having in his Drink broke into a Man's house and stole some of his Goods such an Action of Felony was laid against him that he was condemned to have his Eyes put out and his Privities to be cut off which Sentence was executed upon him and he being in danger of Death by bleeding was counselled to pray to St. Thomas In the Night he had a Vision of one in white Apparel who bid him watch and pray and put his Trust in God and our Lady and holy St. Thomas The next day the Man rubbing his Eyes they were restored and a little after rubbing the other place his Pendenda as he calls them were also restored very small at the first but growing still greater which he permitted every one to feel that would No doubt the old Roman Breviary points at this Story when it says thus Thomas stretched out his powerful hand to unusual and unheard of Wonders For even they that were deprived of their Eyes and of those parts by which Mankind is propagated by his Merits had the Favor to receive new ones The History of St. Patrick and his Miracles St. Patrick alias Socher the great Apostle of Ireland in A. D. 361. was born in the South-West Coast of Britany among the Dimetor in the Province called Pembrokeshire His Father was Caliphurnius a British Priest or Deacon his Mother Concha the Sister of St. Martin Bishop of Tours The Village where he was born was called Bannava where anciently Gyants are said to have dwelt But Socher afterwards called Patrick was in the Sixteenth year of his Age led away Captive in an Incursion made by the Picts into England and sold to a Noble-man in the Northern parts of Ireland Six whole Years the devout Youth spent in this slavery all the while addressing his Prayers to God an hundred times aday and as oft in the night using great Mortification likewise so that with these two wings he mounted to such Perfection as he enjoy'd a frequent Conversation with Angels And particularly in Capgrave we read how an Angel called Victor frequently visited him and said to him Thou dost very well to fast ere long thou shalt reâ—urn to thy Countrey But after six Years slavery St. Patrick by the admonition of an Angel found under a certain Turf a Sum of Gold which he gave to his Lord and so was delivered from Captivity and returned to his Parents Countrey which he gloriously illustrated with the admirable Sanctity of his Liâ—e Afterwards repairing to Rome he received his Mission for the Conversion of Ireland from Pope Celestinus who changed his Name to Patricius as prophecying he should be the spiritual Father of many Souls and so was promoted to his Episcopal Dignity and directed to his Voyage into Ireland and at the same time received of the Pope twelve Years of Indulgence The Irish Magicians gave this warning of St. Patrick's coming into Ireland several Years before saying A Man will come hither with his Wood whose Table shall be placed on the Eastâ—rn side of his House and some persons standing behind together with the other from the Table will sing and the Congregaâ—ion will answer them saying Amen When this Man comes he will destroy our Gods subvert our Temples destroy Princes which resist him and his Doctrine shall remain and prevail here for ever Now the piece of Wood foretold by those Magicians is interpreted a certain wonderful Staff whâ—ch St. Patrick â— before his Journey received from an Holy Hermit aâ—d â—hich was calleâ— The Staff of Iesus Now the History of that Staff is as follows St. Patrick by Divine Revelation pass'd over to a certain solitary Hermit living in an Island of the Tyrrhen Sea whose name was Iustus which he made good by his Actions being a Man of a Holy Life great â—ame and