Holie father how thinke you This Caterine of Siena is she of such great holines as she is reported to be The Pope made answere and said Truly we beleeue she is a holie virgin If it please your holines said they we will goe to see her And we beleeue said he you shal be well edified And so they came to our house foorthwith after nyne of the clocke in sommer When they knocked I went to open the doore vnto them And one of them said to me tell Caterine that we would speake with her When she vnderstood of their being there she came downe with doctour Iohn her confessour and certaine other religious persones in to one of the lower roomes where in a conuenient place they caused her to sit downe in the middle And so they entred talke with her after a verie insolent manner prouoking her to choler with their biting wordes And emong other thinges they said We come from the Popes holines and are desirous to vnderstand of you whether you be sent from the Florentines or no as the common brute is Haue not they one sufficient man to send about a matter of so great importance vnto so great a prince And if you be not sent by them we meruaile much how you being a seelie woman dare presume to treate of so weightie a matter as this is with our holie father the Pope c. But the holie maid stood fast like an vnmoueable piller and gaue them verie humble and pitthie answeres in so much that they merueiled much at it And when she had satisfied them at the full concernyng this matter they put out vnto her verie manie and withall verie great questions especially touching her abstraction and singular manner of life And bicause the Apostle saieth that the angell of Satan transfourmeth him selfe into an angell of light they asked her how she knewe whether she were deceiued or no. And so they spake manie wordes and proposed manie questions and in effecte protracted the tyme vntill it was night Sometymes Doctour Iohn would answere for her And though he were a Doctour of diuinitie yet were they such great learned men that in fewe wordes they shut him vp and said vnto him You maie be ashamed to speake after this manner in our presence Let her answere for her selfe for she satisfieth vs much better then you doe Now emong these three one was an Archbishop sometymes a frier of S. Francis order which bare him selfe like a proud Pharisee in countenance as it appeered and made sometymes as though he would not take the answeres of the holie maid But the other two at the length set themselues against him and said What would you haue more of this maid Without doubt she hath declared these matters more plainly and more copiously then euer we found them declared by anie of the doctours And she shewed manie moe verie certaine and true tokens vnto them and so there arose a great iarre emong them selues But in the end they departed all alike satisfied and comforted and made this report of her to our holie father the Pope that they neuer found a soule neither so humble nor so illuminated Howbeit when the Pope vnderstood how they had ruffled with her to moue her to choler he was verie angrie with them made his excuse to her verie effectually declaring that it was done without his will or consent And he said furthermore that if those prelates came anie more to speake with her they should shut the doores against them The next daie doctour Francis the Popes phisicion said these wordes vnto me Knowe you those prelates that came yester daie to our house I made him answere that I knewe them not Then said he to me I assure you that if the knowledge of those three were put in one balance and the knowledge of all the rest that are in the court of Come were put in the other the knowledge of these three would weigh much more then all theirs And therefore I will tell you that if they had not found this maid Caterine to haue a verie good ground she had made as ill a voiage at this tyme as euer she made in her life And then he commended her with verie great and effectuall wordes which I omit in this place for breuities sake These are the verie wordes of that blessed and holie man father Steuen who was as it is said long tyme conuersant with her as her spirituall sonne and scholer and afterwardes became a monke and so consequently for his vertue and holines a Priour ouer a couent of Carthusians neere vnto Pauia Where being earnestly required he wrote a short abbridgment of the holie maides life In the which is conteined brefely and in effecte the whole substance of this booke For corroboration wherof he caused the said abbridgement to be firmed with the great seale of his couent and to be subsigned with the handes of two publike notaries in the presence of a great nomber of witnesses And made this solemne protestation withall in as earnest and vehement termes as he could deuise that for confirmation of the truth of that whole storie and euerie point conteined in the same to the honour of God and edifying of soules he would be found readie at all tymes to take a corporall oathe in whatsoeuer fourme it could be most exactely deuised and to put his hand not only to that present writing but also into the fyer if it were required And of this he called almightie God to witnes who kewe the secretes of his hart Abriefe repetition or somme of manie pointes of heauenlie doctrine reuealed vnto the holie maid immediately from God Chap. 19. THe holie maid was as we haue declared heretofore oftentymes rauished in spirite and vtterly abstracted from her bodilie senses At which tymes it pleased almightie God to vtter by secret inspiration vnto the soule of his deere spouse diuerse sundrie pointes of mysticall doctrine Which she being so rauished and abstracted vttered in the presence of manie godlie and great learned men which wrote as she spake and compiled a booke conteinyng sixe treatises The conclusion wherof I thought good to laie downe in this place word for word as it is written bicause it compriseth in fewe wordes an abbridgement or briefe somme of all such matters as are set out at large in the whole booke before The wordes of almightie God to his spouse are these Now most deere and welbeloued daughter I haue satisfied thy desire from the begynnyng of my talke vnto the last that I had concernyng obedience for if thou be well remembred thou requiredst of me with a carefull desire as thou knowest I caused thee to desire that I should make the fyer of charitie to increase in thee Thou requiredst I saie fouer petitions of the which one was for thy selfe The which I satisfied by illuminating thee with the light of my truth shewing thee that through the light of faith with the knowledge of thee
euidētly by her wordes must needes turne them to verie great cōmoditie and comfort wēt foorth with to the lordes and nobilitie of the citie perswaded with thē that in anie case they should seeke to be recōciled to the Popes holines And because certaine persones ther present had openly impugned this peace and specially one capitaine or principal man of the partie called Guelphi which were in nōber eight had spokē against it in plaine wordes they depriued thē of their offices Wherof there ensued a great turmoyle in the citie by reason that the persones so depriued for enuie malice to be reuēged of those that had caused it sought by the fauour of the people to cause manie other to be depriued also in the end caused so manie to be depriued that for lacke of discreete Magistrates there grewe much disorder in the common weale And though the holie maid did shewe openly at all tymes in all places that she had no liking of these broiles but rather great heauines sorrow to see that whereas her meaning was to set thē at vnitie concord abrode her charitable trauaile was through the malice of certaine euel disposed persones made an occasion of ciuile discord and tumult at home yet there lacked not a nomber of wicked and diuelish men which bare the common people in hand that the holie maid and such as she dealt withal were the cause of raising those troubles in the citie Whereupon first of all they bent them selues against those men that had ben doers in anie degree about the afore mentioned depriuation And of them some were driuen out of the cittie some were slaine and some were constreined to flee for feare Then they began to make outcries against the holie maid her selfe Some said Come let vs goe to that naughtie womans house Some others said Let vs kill the queanc and cut her in peeces With these and other the like wordes those good folkes that kept her were put in such feare least some great mischiefe might come either to them selues or to their houses for her sake that they entreated her to depart Whereat she shewed her selfe to be no more moued neither in wordes nor yet in countenance then if there had ben no such thing But smyling sweetely to her selfe as her maner was and speaking comfortably to the rest she went her waie into an orchyard not farre from thence Where when she had made an exhortation to those deuout persones that were about her she set her selfe to praier While the holie maid was thus praying in the orchyard after the example of our Sauiour Christ there came rushing in vpon her a fierce companie of cruell men with clubbes speares and swoordes readie drawen showting and crying horribly Where is that naughtie woman where is that cursed wretch where is she With the noyse of this outragious and beastlie crie the holie maid being as it were violently broken of the sweet sleepe of her meditation start vp sodainly and ranne to meete with them with as louelie and cheerefull a countenance as if she had ben a yong spouse and had gone to receiue her loue whom she had long looked for And seing emong them one man that came on faster then his companie hauing a verie cruell and murdering looke shaking his swoord after a dreadfull manner and crying lowder then the rest where is the naughtie woman which is she which is Caterine she offred her selfe to him and kneeling downe before him said I am Caterine Doe your will with me but let these alone At those wordes the cruell harted man that came with a full purpose to strike her was so striken himself that he had neither strength to hold vp his hand against her nor boldnes to looke her once in the face She kneeled boldly before him without anie weapō and he stood trembling before her with his swoord in his hand There lacked no will nor boldnes in her to receiue the stroke but there lacked both strength and courage in him to geue it As it maie appeere by a letter that she wrote afterwardes to doctur Raimundus in the which she maketh a verie pitifull lamentation that she could not at that tyme effectually offer vp her blood to the vspoted lambe of God that had offred vp his most precious blood so freely vpon the Crosse for her loue Now though this wicked attempt of these furious men was thus staied by the mightie hand of God Yet did there remaine such a feare striken into the hartes of all good folkes both of the citie and of her companie and retinue that no man hauing the boldnes to receiue her into his house they all gaue her counsell to depart But she vpon a great affiance that she had in the mercifull goodnes of God and also as a prophetesse well assured of the finall successe and effecte of the matter said in plaine wordes that she would neuer depart the citie vntill the peace were fully and perfectly concluded Which thing came to passe within a fewe daies after euen as she haid said when Pope Gregorie was dead and Pope Vrbanus chosen in his place At what tyme the first mouers and principall workers of this tumult in the citie of Florence were seuerely punished and specially those that did anie thing against the holie maid And a firme peace was made established betweene the Popes holines and their cittie to the honour of God and great comfort not only of both parties but of all Christendome besides How the holie maid shewed her selfe to be excellently well learned both by her writinges and workes set out to the wordle and also by her conferences and disputations had with certaine great learned men Chap. 18. YF anie man doubt whether the holie maid were learned let him reade her workes namely her booke of Epistles or the Dialogue that she wrote concernyng the prouidence of God and there is no doubt but that he shal be fully satisfied and perswaded that no creature could euer haue conceiued such pointes of high and heauenlie learnyng without a verie special grace light geuen from God And as she shewed her selfe to be diuinely learned by a nomber of bookes and treatises that she endited and set out to the wordle so did she also meruelously satisfie yea and passe the expectation of all learned men that came of purpose to appose her and to trie in deed whether the opinion of such excellent knowledge generally conceiued of her had his true grownd in her or rather in others as they suspected Concernyng this point a blessed and holie man called Steuen sometimes her gostlie child trained vnder her discipline afterwardes a monke of the Charterhouse writeth one verie notable example worthie to be remembred The which can not better be set out then with his owne wordes which are these When Pope Gregorie being in Auinion gaue much audience and reuerence to the holie maid there came three great prelates vnto him and said
had seene that from this tyme forward her whole care and studie was how to recouer the same againe Now whē our Lord had after this maner watered the roote of his litle plāt with the dewe of his sweet blessing she began foorthwith to yeald not only buddes blossomes of great matters in expectation but also ripe frutes of diuerse and sundrie excellent and perfecte vertues in so much that in all her behauiour she shewed her selfe to all those that God vowchsafed to conuerse with her not like an infant as her yeares required nor yet like a young woman which not withstanding in that age had ben a verie strange matter but like a graue and sad matrone This heauenlie fyer of Gods holie loue had wrought such an alteration in her hart such a light in her vnderstanding such a feruour in her will such a plyantnes in all her powers both of bodie and sowle to folowe the instincte of his holie Spirite that to them that sawe her behauiour and tooke good heed to her wordes and deedes it seemed that she was wholly transformed into IESVS-CHRIST her sweet spowse and Sauiour In so much that on a daie going to confession as her maner was she declared of her selfe to her gostlie father that she had learned the liues and austeritie of diuerse auncient fathers in Egipt other Sainctes and specially of the holy patriarke S. Dominicke not by the teaching of men nor by reading in bookes but by reuelation from God and that she had such a desire to frame her life after the examples and rules of those holy men that she could think vpon none other thing but only how to bring the same to passe Whervpon she entred into a newe course of life which was so strange vnwonted especially in that tender age that all men had great wonder of it First of all she gaue ouer all maner of plaie and sport wherein yong children are wont to take delite Then she withdrewe her selfe from all companie that she might haue the freer and more familiar accesse to God in holie meditations and praiers She bound her selfe to a wonderfull kinde of silence she punished her bodie with much abstinence and other hard discipline The which that she might doe with the more commoditie secrecy she sought out a priuie place in the howse where she might scourge her selfe with a cord which she had prouided for that purpose And as she was a towardlie scholer in the schoole of Christ yealding her selfe verie ployantly to be lead from vertue to vertue whether soeuer it pleased the spirite of God to lead her so was she also a diligent and discrete schole-mistres and vsed meanes to allure and trayne other litle children also of her age in the same patthes of vertue and austere life In so much that when the neighbours children resorted vnto her as they did oftentymes being sterred to grace by the sweet wordes and holie example of this gratious infant they would gather them selues together in a certaine secret place of the howse which she had chosen out for the nonce and there would they scourge them selues as they sawe her to doe saying in the meane tyme ech of them a certaine nomber of Pater nosters and Aue Maries according as she prescribed them to saie By these other the like exercises of piety and deuotion she fownd such fauour in the sight of her heauenlie spowse that verie manie tyme when she set hir self to goe vp and downe those staiers in her fathers howse saying her Aue Maries after such sort as we declared before it was seene by diuerse and sundrie persones that she was caried sensibly in the ayer by the almightie power of God and ministerie of Angels without towching anie steppe of the same with her feete And this happened vnto her namely at those tymes when she retired her selfe from all companie and specially of men And there is no doubt but that it happened in that place to geue her and others to vnderstand how acceptable that deuotion towardes the most glorious mother of God which she exercised in that place was to almightie God Of a bold entreprise which this blessed infant made to liue a solitarie life after the maner of auneiēt Fathers in Egipt And how she vnderstood that it was not the wil of God that she should enter into that state of life as yet Chap. 3. THis yong virgin had learned by reuelation that the trade of life which the auncient Heremites liued in Egipt was verie acceptable vnto God and therfore she had a passing great desire to seeke out some solitaire place in the wildernes where she might likewise liue after their rules and examples But she could not deuise how to bring her desired purpose to passe And bicause it was not the will of God that she should take that trade of life in such maner as she desired he left her in this point to her owne natural wit and would geue her none other direction but only what her owne childish wit could deuise Wherupon to accomplish the great desire that she had to serue God in the wildernes on a daie tymely in the mornyng she made her prouision like a child of one loafe of bread and with the same tooke her waie towardes her sisters howse which was maried dwelt neere vnto the gate of S. Ansanus Howbeit she entred not into the howse as she was wont to doe but passed by and went out at the gate and so did she neuer before that tyme. And so passing foorth vntill she came at the lenght where she sawe the howses standing one here and an other there and not together as she was wont to see them in the citie she begā to be glad hoped wel that she was neere to the wildernes Yet she held on her waie a litle further and came at the last to a place where she fownd a litle caue vnder a bancke which pleased her very well And foorth with she entred into the same with passing great ioye gladnes for she persuaded her selfe verily that she had now fownd out that wildernes that she so much desired And when she was entred she stood not long to consider of the opportunitie of the place or how she might accōmodate her selfe in that newe oratorie but by and by without anie further aduisement or consideration she fell downe on her knees and set her selfe to praier with great humilitie and feruour of spirite The which lowly and deuout mynd was so acceptable in the sight of our Lord that although it was not his holie will and pleasure that she should followe that order of life yet to geue her to vnderstand that no holie desire or purpose shal euer passe vnrewarded he gaue her this tokē As she was praying with a verie vehement bent of mynd she was taken vp by litle and litle from the earth where she kneeled and her bodie was lifted vp as high as the height of
affection towardes the Church of God so did those wicked feendes increase their crueltie towardes her beating and bounsing her daie and night and withal filling her eares with their most horrible cries saying O thou cursed wretch thou hast euer ben against vs. But be thou well assured the tymes is now come that we will be euen with thee Thou hast oftentymes disappointed vs of our purposes And therefore now we will neuer geue thee ouer vntill we haue made a full riddance of thee in such sort that thou shalt neuer be able to hinder vs anie more Thus much the holie maid wrote her selfe in a letter to Doctour Raimundus her ghostlie Father And so she continued in such vexation and tormentes from the sonday of Septuagesima vntill the last sauing one of April on the which daie it pleased our Lord to call her out of this life How the holie maid obteined by praier that she might satisfie the iustice of God for the paines dwe to her father in Purgatorie Chap. 8. WHen Iames this holie maides father sawe that his daughter was wholly geuen to the seruice of God as it hath ben declared in the first part of this booke he cast a verie special loue and affection to her and entreated her in his house with great respecte and reuerence and had this opinion of her that she was able to obteine at Gods hand for him what she would And she likewise bare a verie singular loue and reuerence to her father and commended his health to God in her dailie praiers in most earnest maner It chaunced that her father fell into a verie grieuous sickenes kept his bed The which when she vnderstood she turned her selfe to God in praier after her accustomed maner and besought him that her father might recouer againe But answere was geuen her from God that the end of his daies in this life was come and that it was not expedient for him to liue anie longer With that she went foorthwith to her father to visite him and to examine him how he was disposed in his soule and found him readie and willing to passe out of this wordle whensoeuer it should please God to call him wherof she was verie glad and thanked our Lord with all her hart Then she praied furthermore that seeing our Lord had voutchsafed to call her father out of this life in the state of saluation it might also stand with his holie will and pleasure to make him this graunt that he might passe out of hand to the ioyes of heauen not be staied anie tyme in the paines of Purgatorie Whereunto our Lord made her answere that the order of iustice must needes be obserued which would not beare that anie soule should haue the fruition of those vnspeakeable ioyes vnlesse it were most perfectly purged before And though her father had lead a conuenient good life in his vocation and had done manie good workes also which were verie acceptable in the sight of God of the which one principal worke was the mainteinyng of her in religion yet there remained some rust of earthlie conuersation which of right must be tried out with the fyer of purgatorie When she heard that she made her praier to our Lord after this maner O most mercifull Lord how maie I abide that the soule of my deere father whome thou hast appointed to be the meane to bring me into this wordle by whome I haue ben so carefully prouided for in my tender age at whose hand I haue receiued so manie comfortes and reliefes by whose handie labour and charges I haue ben mainteined thus maine yeares in thy seruice should now be tormented with the paines of Purgatorie I beseech thee O father of mercies and God of all comfort for all the louing kindnes that euer thou hast shewed to mankind that thou wilt not suffer my fathers sowle to depart out of his bodie vntill it be by one meane or other so perfectly tried and purified that it need no further purgation A wonderful thing to consider After the tyme that the holie maid had said those wordes it was euidently seene that her fathers bodie decaied more and more as it did before to wardes death all his powers failing sensibly in such sort that all men sawe by the course of nature it could not continue anie tyme. And yet for so long time as she continued in praier wrestling as it were with almightie God and labouring to incline him in some degree if it were possible from iustice to mercie they might perceiue that his soule was holden in his bodie by some spiritual power and could in no wise depart At the length when she sawe that the iustice of God must needes be satisfied she said thus O most merciful Lord if it cā not otherwise be but that thy iustice must be answered I beseech thee turne thy iustice vpon me whatsoeuer paines thou hast appointed for my father laie the same vpon my bodie I will willingly beare them To that our Lord consented said vnto her Daughter for the loue that thou bearest to me I am content to graunt thee thy petition to transpose the paines due to thy father to laie the same vpon thee which thou shalt beare in thy bodie so long as thou liuest With that she thanked God most hūbly and said O Lord thy iudgemētes are all iust be it done to me as thou hast determined And so she made hast towardes her father who laie in extremes And she cōforted him meruelously with that glad tidinges wēt not frō him vntill he had geuē vp the ghost So soone as her father was departed she felt her selfe foorthwith pained with a grieuous disease in her side called Iliaca passio which neuer wēt frō her so lōg as she liued The which paine she bare not only patiētly but also cheerefully cōceiuīg such an inward ioy of that B. state that she knew her father was in that she litle esteemed the outward paine of her owne bodie In so much that at the tyme of her fathers departure when all other that were present made great lamentation she smiled sweetely and shewing great gladnes in her countenance said these wordes Deere father would God I were as you are Our Lord be blessed How the holie maid by praier brought her mother to life againe and so deliuered her from the paines of hell Chap. 9. AS the holie maid shewed her selfe to be a verie louing and duetiful child towardes her father so did she likewise afterwardes shewe the like loue and charitie towardes her mother as her duetie required Her mother Lapa was verie sicke and her sickenes grewe on her euerie daie more and more in such sort that there were seene in her great tokens of death and small hope of life All the which notwithstanding she was so drowned in the wordle that she might in no wise heare of death and be brought to confourme her will to the will of God When her daughter
seditious citizens against the holie maid that her freendes doubting and fearing her life counseled her to depart But she made them answere that she had an expresse commaundement from God not to depart vntill the peace were fully agreed vpon and openly published in the said citie Howbeit she was contented a litle to geue place to the furie of the people and to withdrawe her selfe into a secret place not farre from the citie there to remaine for a tyme vntill the tempest were somewhat asswaged Now as she was preparing her selfe to his voiage in a maner readie to set foreward one of her sisters called Ione fell sicke Her foote was swollen very much of what cause no man knewe he paine anguish wherof was so great that it cast her into an ague also By reason wherof she was not in state to take that iourney with the rest of her compaine VVhen the holie maid vnderstood of her sickenes being vn willing to leaue her there behind bicause she was manie waies subiecte to the furie and malice of naughtie men she fled to her accustomed refuge of praier besought almighty God of his infinity mercie that he would prouide for the indēnitie of her sister God heard the petition of his spouse For al the whil that she continued thus in praier that other sister slept sloundely Out of the which sleepe so soone as she awaked she found her selfe in as perfecte health strength as if she had neuer ben sicke And so she rose vp set her selfe in order went the same mornyng with the maid and the rest of the compaine so nimbly that they wer al astoined to se it When Pope Greg. had resolued to remoue out of Frāce vnto the citie of Rome againe the holie maid likewise with doctour Raimundus the rest of her retinue departed from auinion towardes Italie And passing through the prouince they came to a citie called Tolonne where when they had taken vp their Inne the holie maid to auoid the presse of the people which flocked meruelously about her in al places to doe her honour left her compaine and as her maner was conueied her selfe as secretly as was possible to an inner chamber And her whole compaine knowing how troublesome such resort had ben to her at at other tymes did what they could to prouide that fewe or none should knowe of her being there But as they vsed all diligence to keepe the matter secret so it seemed that the verie stones of the streete cried out and be wraied her to the people for she was no sooner in her chamber but that they came to the house from all partes of the citie flocking in great nombers first of women and then of men and asked wher that holie Ladie was that came from the court of Rome At the length when Doct Raimundus the rest sawe that the matter could no longer be hidden being ouercome with the importunate pressing of the people they were contented to admit the women only Emong whome there was one that had a yong infant so strangely swollen especially in the bellie that it seemed rather a mōster thē a child for the which infant the women besought the holie maid that she would vouchsafe to take it into her armes she refused it at the first for humilities sake but afterwardes being ouercome with pitie and seeing their faith she yealded vnto thē So sone as the child was in her armes it beganne to let out out great store of wind and with that in the presence of all that multitude the swelling of his bellie and whole bodie asswaged and she gaue it againe to the mother in perfecte health and shape of bodie The fame of this miracle being spread thoroughout the citie it came to the eares of the bishop Who sent out of hand for Doctour Raimundus and desired him that he would be a meane to the holie maid that he might speake with her and told him withal that the child vpon whom this great miracle was wrought was nephewe to his vicare generale She came with doctour Raimundus and certaine of her sisters and spake with the bishop and he found him selfe meruelously well edified by her talke and behauiour Manie other miracles did the holie maid worke to the benefite and health of mens bodies But these maie suffice to declare that the power of God dwelt in her which was the principal worker of all these thinges How the holie maid made good bread of fustie and stincking corne and how she multiplied the same Chap. 5. BIcause the order of iustice requireth that such as shewe thē selues perfectly obediēt to God should be obeied of all his creatures our Lord to declare to the wordie that the obediēce of his spouse was verie perfecte towardes him caused his creatures likewise to shewe their obedience towardes her At the tyme while the holie maid liued in Siena it chaunced that a yong widowe called Alexia of whom mention hath bē made oftentimes before in this booke bare such a singular affectiō to her that it seemed she could not almost liue without her For the which cause she gaue ouer the wordle tooke the habite vpō her which the holy maid ware and forsaking her owne house tooke an house neere vnto the place where the holie maid dwelt that she might resort vnto her more commodiously continue longer tyme in her compaine And the holie maid likewise to auoid the distractions of her fathers house and to retire her selfe more closely to praier and contemplation would goe to the house of Alexia and there continue with her sometymes whole daies sometymes whole weekes yea and sometymes whole monethes At that tyme it chaunced one yeare to be such a scarcitie of corne in the citie countrie that the people were constreined to eate bread made of fustie and stincking corne that had ben kept long tyme vnder the ground in cesternes caues bicause there was none other to be gotten for money Of such corne had Alexia made prouision for her selfe and her familie for that yeare But before her store was spent the haruest tyme was come and she heard tell that there was newe corne to be sold in the market wherupon she thought to cast awaie that litle portion that was lefte of the stinking corne and buye newe But before she did it the holie maid being in house with her she chaunced to breake her mynd to her and to tell her what she was about to doe What will yee doe said she Will you cast that awaie that God hath sent for the sustenance of man If you will not eate of that bread your selfe yet bestowe it vpon the poore that haue no bread to eate To that Alexia replied and said that she had a conscience to geue such stinking vnholesome bread to the poore she would rather buye newe corne and make them bread of that Well said the holie maid bring me here a litle warer and that meale which you mynd
wrought to declare how acceptable her workes of charitie were to him Chap. 8. Of a passing great charitie and diligence which she vsed in attending vpon a sicke woman and of her inuincible patience in bearing the waywardnes of the same woman Chap. 9. An other verie strange example of her charitie and patience towardes a sicke woman of her owne order and how she rendred great good for great euel Chap. 10. How she serued an old widowe that had a festered sore runnyng vpon her by whom she was also infamed And of diuerse strange accidentes that ensued vpon the same Chap. 11. How she was endued with manie goodlie priuileges How she had a passing desire to receiue the blessed Sacrament How being fortified with the spirite of God she endured much labour and trauaile without anie bodelie sustenance Chap. 12. How she was molested by diuerse and sundrie persones disswading her from her streight abstinence and how she ouercame her gostlie father by reason Chap. 13. How her strange maner of life was gainesaid and slaundered and how such gainesayinges and slaunders maie easily be answered Chap. 14. How she shewed her selfe meruelous seuere and rigorous towardes her selfe and contrariwise wonderfull gentle and meeke towardes them that slaundered her which she did to wynne them to God Chap. 15. How our Sauiour tooke her hart out of her bodie and after a certaine of daies gaue her a newe for it Chap. 16. Of diuerse and sundrie visions which she had at the siight and receiuing of the blessed Sacrament and how she felt herselfe wonderfully altered after the receite of that newe hart Chap. 17. How our Lord reueled manie high mysteries to the holie maid and how Marie Magdalen was assigned to her to be her mother Chap 18. How hangyngh in the aier she sawe certaine secrets and high mysteries of God which it is not lawful to disclose to anie man Chap 19. How she put her mouth to the side of our Sauiour and drancke and of manie other wonderful thinges that happend about the blessed Sacrament Chap 20. Of certaine other reuelations shewed vnto her vpon the receiuing of the blessed Sacrament And how she obteined graces for diuerse and sundrie persones Chap 21. How she receiued the blessed marckes of our Sauiour Christ in the citie of Pisa Chap. 22. How she was rauished in spirite for the space of three daies and how afterwardes she did penance as long for a woord that escaped her vnwares Chap. 23. Of certaine other reuelations and againe of the tendernes of her conscience Chap. 24. How it pleased God to reueale to her the worthines and excellencie of the blessed patriarke S. Dominicke and of his true children Chap. 25. How the holie virgin being wholly inflamed with the Loue of God desired instantly to be loosed from this life and to be with Christ and how by that meane she obteined to beare in her bodie euerie particular paine that our Sauiour Christ suffred for vs. Chap. 26. How bearing the Crosse of Christ continually in her bodie she tooke great delite to reason of the same and how she reuealed manie strange mysteries vpon the holie scriptures concerning the Crosse Chap. 27. An other exposition vpon the same place of the gospel with certaine other mystical sayinges And how she passed in deed out of this life in the panies of the Crosse Chap. 28 How she passed in deed out of this life and had the fruition of heauenlie ioyes and how afterwardes her soule came againe to the bodie Chap 29. How she had a meruelous deuotion and longyng after the blessed Sacrament and how she bare manie reproaches and slaunders for the same Chap. 30. How our Sauiour Christ ministred the blessed Sacrament vnto her with his owne holie hand Chap. 31. How her face did shyne like an Angel while she was receiuing the blessed Sacrament and of certaine other strange signes Chap. 32. How almightie God permitted the deuel to haue power our her bodie and how she ouercame all with great patience Chap. 33. How she deliuered a certanie yong maid that was possessed of a wicked spirite Chap. 34. How she deliuered a woman that was possessed of a wicked spirite Chap. 35. A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CONTEINED IN THE THIRD PART OF THIS BOOKE HOw the holie maid was endued with the spirite of prophecie and foretold what calamities should happen to the Church and likewise how it should be restored againe Chap. 1. How the holie maid sawe the secret thoughtes of mens hartes and how she vsed that gyfte to the benefite of diuerse and sundrie persones Chap. 2. How the holie maid deliuered Doctour Thomas her confessour and an other Frier that iournied with him from being murthered in the waie Chap. 3. How she prophecied long tyme before of the conuersion of a gentleman called Francis of Malauolt Chap. 4. How the holie maid made an exhortation to the Carthusian monckes in the which by the spirite of prophecie she touched the most secret defectes of diuerse and sundrie of them verie particularly Chap. 5. VVhat a singular grace the holie maid had not only in seeing the state of their soules that were present with her but also in discernyng the qualities and condicions of them that were farre from her and in strange countries with certaine other pointes of like sort worthie to be noted Chap. 6. How the holie maid praied continually for the state of the Church and how by prayer she obteined of God the ceasing of two rebellions Chap. 7. How the holie maid obteined by prayer that she might satisfie the iustice of God for the paines due to her father in Purgatorie Chap. 8. How the holie maid by praier brought her mother to life againe and so deliuered her from the paines of hell Chap. 9. How the holie maid obteined of God by prayer the conuersion of two theeues that were lead to execution Chap. 10. How by the praier of the holie maid an obstinate synner was turned to God Chap 11. How the holie maid by praier procured the conuersion of a fierce yong gentleman in Siena called Iames Tolomes Chap. 12. How the holie maid by praier obteined the conuersion of a gentleman called Mannes Chap. 13. VVhat a wonderful grace the holie maid had in making exhortations and conuerting soules vnto God Chap. 14. How the holie maid mede manie goodlie Sermons or collations in the presence of Pope Gregorie and afterwardes likewise in the presence of Pope Vrbanus and his Cardinals Chap. 15. How the holie maid was sent to Pope Gregorie from the Florentines about a treatie of peace and how she was sent backe againe with the conditions of peace freely put in her owne hand Chap. 16. How the holie maid was sent backe from Pope Gregorie to the Florentines with the conditions of peace freely put in her owne hand Chap 17. How the holie maid shewed her selfe to be excellently well learned both by her writinges and workes set out to the whole wordle and also by her conferences and disputatiōs had with certaine great learned men Chap. 18 A briefe repitition or somme of manie pointes of heauenlie doctrine reuealed vnto the holie maid immediatly from God Chap. 19. A praier or answere made by a faithful and deuout soule to the wordes of almightie God here before recited Chap. 20. VVhat a sure affiance the holie maid had in the truth of Christ and how she longed after martyrdome Chap. 21. How the holie maid made a final exhortation to her spiritual children and so passed out of this life Chap. 22. A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CONTEINED IN THE FOVRTH PART OF THIS BOOKE HOw it pleased our Lord to make the holines of his spowse knowen to the wordle by diuerse and sundrie euident tokens from heauen And first how she spake certaine comfortable wordes to doctour Raimundus after her departure out of this wordle Chap. 1. How it pleased God to geue a testimonie of her holines in her life tyme by an euident miracle wrought at the tombe of S. Agnes Chap. 2. How the holie maid in her life tyme healed manie that were sicke of the plague Chap. 3. How the holie maid healed a great nomber that were sicke of other diseases after the liker maner Chap. 4. How the holie maid made good bread of fustie and stincking corne and how she multiplied the same Chap. 5. How the holie maid multiplied bread an other tyme in Rome for the prouisiom of her familie Chap. 6. How the holie maid wrought the like miracle in the couent of the fryers preachers in Siena after her departure out of this wordle Chap. 7. How almightie God caused wine to be founde in an emptie vessel to the vse of the holie maid and how he caused the same to cease againe at her instance Chap. 8. Of a goodlie vision that was shewed to a certaine deuout matrone in Rome at the departure of the holie maid out of this life Chap. 9 How the holie maides bodie laie three daies and three nightes aboue the ground vnburied and of a nomber of miracles which it pleased our Lord to worke in that meane tyme. Chap. 10. VVhat miracles almightie God wrought to honour the holie maid after her burial Chap. 11. The end of the Table