they are not my seruants but my brethren brethren they are and for such I esteeme them And that indeed he esteemed them more like his brethren then seruants many wayes appeared especially if any of his house fell sicke as there did two immediatly before he â—ell sicke himselfe â—or then his custome waâ— to go to their chaÌ„bers to sit and talke with them to comfort them euery way to assist help them And touching these two the last of which Matthaeus Tortus was one the other an attendant of his chamber this memorable thing is recorded that wheras Tortus was exceeding sicke and held to be in great danger of death and the other but in the entrance of his disease which he seemed not much to regard yet the Cardinall hauing seene theÌ„ both sayd that Tortus should recouer and the other dye which as it seemed strange to all that heard it who saw great signes of death in the one scarce the appearaÌ„ce of any sicknes in the other so the euent proued to be true for the later within few dayes departted this life and Tortus is yet liuing and in perfect health His resignation and indifferency of His resignation indifferency of mind was very exact without all contradiction or reply whatsoeuer hapned whatsoeuer was determined nothing troubled his mind no exception was made one thing only excepted if yet that thing be subiect to exception for thus it hapned He hauing from the beginning of his sicknes prepared himself to dye it fel out that the seauenth day held by the Phisitians for Critical he begaÌ„ to be somwhat better much ioy was coÌ„ceaued therat the same signified vnto the Cardinal who weighing the matter in another ballaÌ„ce was somwhat troubled with this soden resolution and said myldly vnto the Doctors I had thought at this tyme to haue gone to my house and home and now I see that you will hinder me I pray you let me goe Their answere was that it belonged vnto their office to preserue his life as long as they could and was pleasing vnto God and he also was bound therein to concurre with them to doe as they should ordayne and be contented to stay in this world vntill that God should otherwise dispose Well then quoth the Cardinal his will be done but if the choice were in my handes I should rather dye then liue wherfore doe as you will I shall follow your direction And when the Phisitians were gone he seemed so much to be discomforted that his Attendants vvere all mooued to comfort him and that no lesse then ordinarily men vse to comfort others that are to dye would longer liue Agayne at another tyme vvhen three of his foure Phisitians had consulted and determined to make tryall of a nevv remedy he sayd vnto them Will you not yet let me goe Ah let me alone novv it is high time Fa. Minutoli ansvvered and sayd the Rule of our Society doth bynde vs in sicknes to obey the Phisitians he had no sooner named the Rule but the other recalling his former wordes sayd you say well there is a Rule let them appoint what they wil I wil do whatsoeuer they wil haue me so punctual he was in obseruing the Rules of the Society in all thinges eyther for life or death with or against his owne inclination Some neere perhaps vvill say that notvvithstanding he loathed this life thirsted after heauen and vvould gladly be vvith God yet he was not to wish for his ovvne death To vvhich idle fancy I ansvvere vvith S. Augustine Aug. lib. 2. in Gaudient cap. â—â— in fine Non est iniustum homimi iusto optare mortem quando amarissima est viâ—a sed si Deus optatam non dederit non erit iustum nisi tolerare eam amarissiman vitam it is lawfull for a good man to vvish for death vvhen as life it selfe is very bitter vnto him but if God yield not vnto his desire he caÌ„not lavvfully refuse to endure his bitter life So he And so the Cardinall although he vvished for death vvas yet resigned vnto Almighty God to vndergo the longer endurance of a bitter life But leauing his vertues for a vvhile vvhich euery vvhere occurre to be recounted let vs a little behold vvhat other things hapned in the vvhole course and successe of his sicknes in the beginning vvherof it vvas thought good for auoiding of recourse to speak little therof to extenuate the same as not mortall but rather some casuall indisposition and this persuasion continued for three or foure dayes till the Pope truly Pope Gregory visiteth him on his deathbed enformed by his owne Phisitian who repayred dayly vnto the Cardinall by the Generall of the Society in what state he was came in person to visit him the fifth day of his disease for then all apprehended the matter as it was made no other accouÌ„t but to loose him WheÌ„ the Cardinal saw his Holines enter into his chamber he sayd with the good Centurion Non sum dignus vt intres sub tectum Luc. 7. meum I am not worthy that you should enter vnder my roofe with other wordes of great dutifulnes and humility when the Pope shewed the griefe of mynd he conceaued for his sicknes and how much he esteemed his losse the other answered as he had alwayes done that he had liued long inough and therfore desired no longer respit on earth I will pray God quoth he to graunt The humility of Pope Gregory your Holines as long life for he is ten yeares younger then Bellarmyne was as he hath vnto me The Pope replied but not in so lowd a voyce as the Cardinall could heare him I haue more need of Bellarmines meritts then of his yeares Many wordes past betweene them of great affection in the one and submissiue humility in the other The Pope after that he had twice most louingly imbraced him being to depart sayd that he would pray to God that he might recouer not quoth the Cardinall that I may recouer being now fit for nothing but that Gods will and pleasure may be done eyther for life or death After that the Pope was gone he seemed to be much more cheerful then he was before the cause whereof he disclosed vnto F. Minutoli saying Now truly doe I well hope that I shall dye for the Popes are neuer known to haue visited Cardinalls but when they were in danger of death or rather past all hope of life to which effect he alleadged diuers examples Remayning therfore in this ioyfull hope when diuers of the Society came to him and offered to say masse and pray for him he would very louingly thank them all but still accepted their curtesy with this Caueat that they should not pray for his longer life but contrariwise His desire to leaue the world that he might soone make an exchange therof for a better that his passage might be safe and soone The cause
of this his desire he alleadged to be for that novv he had prepared himselâ—e and knew not for the tyme to come what in the rest of his life if it were prolonged might befall him for sayd he I haue knowne diuers who if at some tyme when they were wel disposed had departed this life had beene in very happy state who recouering their health fell after very far from that feruour and dyed so desperatly as in humane iudgement they may be rather thought the children of perdition then life Now therfore quoth he seeing I am ready why should I liue longer and expose my selfe to such an hazard Now nothing troubles my conscience for God his goodnesse be still thanked therfore hath so preserued me hitherto as that I doe not remember in the whole course of my liue euer to haue committed any scaÌ„dalous action which perhaps if I should life longer may befall me for weakenes of body drawes oftentymes with it weakenes of mind by which good men haue beene seene to haue relented from their former vigour and vertue This with more to this effect did he speake to expresse the cause why he desired the dissolution of his earthly tabernacle which was no other but that least through the frailty of body mind he should â—eerafter offend God whome hitherto in sanctitate iustitia omnibus diebus Luc. 1. vitae suae in holines and vertue all the dayes of his lire he had so carefully so continually serued and whome now he had rather dye then displease This his feruent desire grounded on the foresaid motiue was so imprinted in his hart and fixed therein so deeply as His disease is found to be mortall euen then when his violent ague bereaued him of his senses he was often heard to say Signore vorrei andare a casa mia quando sarà quel giorno che io venga al vostrâ— Regno c. O Lord I would gladly go to my howse when will that day be when I may come to thy Kingdome And the eleauenth day after his sicknes he sayd vnto all his Phisitians When shal I heare from you that happy newes that I must depart to another life when shall I be deliuered from this body of death They answered as before not so long as they could keep him aliue Well quoth he God sees my desire and how willing I am to come vnto him And indeed non est fraudatus desiderio suo God heard his prayer and that very night he was seene to yex or sob in such manner as a learned Phisitian watching with him held it for mortall and forthwith aduertised the Generall for so had the Cardinall before willed them when they shold perceaue him in euident danger who came early the next morning and seeing how matters went thought it best plainly to acquaint him with the truth and sayd vnto him My Lord I thinke that the end of this sicknes will be the end your life and by all likelyhoode you cannot escape long for the Phisitians now giue a very ill censure of your disease vpon some signes they haue seene and more and more discerne in you so as it seemes Almighty God will call you vnto him and you shall do well to make your selfe ready and dispose of what you haue the time is short and delayes are dangerous At this vnexpected but much desired message the good Cardinall replenished His great ioy at the newes of his death with inward ioy presently with cheerfull countenance and vndaunted courage brake forth into these wordes Buona nuoua buona nuoua ô che buona nuoua è questa that is good news good news oâ— what good newes are these Lo the security of an innocent mynde of a sincere seruant and Apostolicall man who ioyed in death wherat others doe tremble and made that his gaine which worldly meÌ„ esteeme their greatest losse but these graces are not bestowed but vpon such only as haue wholy bestowed themselues vpon God for such alone as S. Gregory saith conteÌ„platione quadam retributionis Gregor 24. in Iob. cap. 7. prope finem interâ—ae etiam priusquaÌ„ carne expoliantur hilarescunt dum vetustatis debitum soluunt noui iam muneris laetitia perfruuntur by the coÌ„templation of that which their soule receaues within doe before they leaue their bodyes become cheerfull eueÌ„ then whiles they are yielding to the dissolution of their old nature doe enioy the comfort of their new reward So he of the vertuous in generall which in this worthy man we see so particularly accomplished who still prayed with the Apostle and sayd Cupio dissolui esse cum Philip. 5. Christo I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ After this ioyfull exclamation turrning his speach vnto F. Generall as answering vnto that which he had suggested he sayd For disposing of my thinges I haue nothing left to dispose it grieueth me that I haue nothing to bestow vpon the Society for I feare much that in making you mine heyres as if I The pouerty of the Cardinall had something to leaue you I shall but charge you with new debts which for my sake you will be forced to discharge The Generall replyed that therein he should not trouble himselfe he had left the Society so much and so much honoured it with his name and immortall labours as it esteemed that treasure more then all the riches of the world Well theÌ„ said the Cardinall I came hither to bestow one whole yeare in preparing my selfe to dye but if it please not God that I bestow any more time heerin neyther truly shal it please me and therfore your message of death is most gratefull c. After this he caused one to reade vnto him the death of S. Charles Borromaeus as S. Charles Borromaeus desirous in his owne to imitate it which being ended he desired to receaue the SacrameÌ„ts of holy Church that as soone as might be least after he should be lesse able for indisposition both of body and minde to receaue them and to preuent also any suddayne accident that might in this weaknes take him away ere he had armed himselfe with this so necessary and soueraigne defence He receaueth the â— Sacrament with great denotion Forth with all thinges were made ready for receauing of the B. Sacrament of the Altar for his Viaticum which was ministred vnto him by the handes of the Generall and receaued with exceeding deuotion of the Cardinall for notwithstanding his extreme weaknes of body he would needs agayne as he had done before rise out of his bed and kneele on the ground to receaue it and so earnest he was to receaue it in this reuerent maÌ„ner as it was not possible without his great griefe and distast to hinder him The Generall perceauing his will so feruently bent on that deuotion wold not withstand him therein least the inward griefe might more afflict his mind then that
but only to shew that eminent sanctity may proue it selfe by the cleere beames of her owne beauty without any any borrowed light deriued from supernaturall power as it did in S. Iohn Baptist aboue mentioned and many other Saints YET for further confirmation of this The time of Bellarmines death reuealed foretold to Pope Gregory the xv particular ther are somethings reported not reported oÌ„ly but manifestly proued to be miâ—aculous Or which that first occurreth to be remembred that the Generall after the death and â—uneralls of the Cardinall repayring for audience to this present Pope Gregory the fifteenth was willed by the sayd Pope to read a letter which he tooke from of a little table and gaue him in reading wherof he found these wordes Betweene the sixtenth and seauententh of September Cardinall Bellarmyne shall go to heauen and as his Holines testified the writer of that letter could not then when he wrote it so much as haue heard of the Cardinalls sicknes and indeed about midnight of the sixteenth day he fell into his agony and dyed the next morning Although out of humility the Writer desired to haue his name concealed yet doth the thing it selfe speake both Bellarmines sanctity and thrice happy end and the singular vertue of the said party and great vnion with God for he could not haue knowne this but by reuelation no naturall causes to one so far absent being able to yield so exact punctuall assurance in so vncertayne a casuality as is the life of man which dependeth on so many and those so indeterminate circumstances as are the meanes by which it may be eyther contracted and cut off or else drawne on to a greater length This knowledge alone appertayneth vnto him from whoÌ„ nothing can lye hid in whose hands alone are all our liues all momentes all tymes which by vs can be no more or lesse knowne then it shall please his mercifull Goodnes to open and disclose vnto vs. The same morning that the Cardinall departed this life his voyce was He reuealeth his owne happines heard to speake vnto some in the Citty of the number I am vncertayne and to say vnto them Adio adesso me ne vado in Paradiso farewell for euen now I go to heauen which voyce amongst others was heard of the Dutches of Sforza a very vertuous Lady now liuing in Rome and one of the other who heard the like voice did not at that time know that the Cardinall was in any danger of death at all The Vertue Nobility multitude of these personages togeather with the vniforme report is a sufficient warrant of their words And euen now though somwhat late is come to my handes a briefe RelatioÌ„ of a miraculous cure done by a Relique of his vpon a Religious woman of the order of S. Bennet called Paula Landi in the Monastery of our B. Ladyes in Campo Martio of Rome Thus the thing fell out The said Paula the sixth day of October A strange and miraculous cure done by a Relique oâ— the Cardinall by a fall brake one of her rib-bones in such sort as that one part thereof did stand out and the other was turned inward towards her brest the paine she felt was excessiue and withall her weaknes was such as she could not vest herselfe eate or vse her arme The Surgeon in setting the bone right increased her paine and besides the extremity of her bodily griefe she was in wardly also very much afflicted in mynde with the feare eyther of a continuall lamenes if she did recouer or with the long endâ—rance of that insupportable torment which would haue no other end then the end of her life Whiles she remayned in the perplexity of these afflicting thoughts there was brought to the Monastery a piece of linnen that had touched the Cardinalls body which she desired to haue when she had it did apply the same to the wouÌ„d much swolne with the concourse of humors then betaking herselfe to prayer hartily craued the intercession of the holy Cardinall loe in the space of one houre she was deliuered froÌ„ all paine could vest herselfe walke and doe any thing as before in so much as on the Sonday following for this hapned on fryday she serued the rest at table and at this present is as well able to doe any thing as euer she was before And this the party hath testifyed to my selfe who purposely got leaue to speake with her about this matter and not only the sayd Paula but others of her Order who were present when I speake vnto her did testify thâ— same adding further that all of the sayd Monastery would doe the like Paula herselfe wrote as much as here I report subscribed the same with her own hand and sent it to the Fathers of the Society of the Casa Professa where the Cardirall is buryed Since the former cure there hath hapned another that vpon an Honorable personage to wit the Lord Riuiullo Bishop of Bel-Castro This man being much afflicted with a payne in his sides that wonderfully molested him before he vvould apply any medicine thereunto called for a little red cap of silke which Bellarmyne did vveare vnder his square cap and confiding much in his merits and intercession touched those partes that grieued him therewith and incontinently he was cured and fully deliuered from all payne as the said Honourable Personage hath testifyed and confirmed by his Oath Hand and Seale More in this kind I might write but for that I haue not such meanes to search out their truth as I thinke is requisite ere they be thus diuulged I leaue them to others to relate who doe better know them and in the history of his life which already is thought vpon they will I doubt not be most faithfully recorded to the Glory of God Honour of his Seruant and Comfort of others These thinges thus testifyed I thought good to set downe which haue so soone hapned after his death because in part they confirme vvhat before I wrote of his holy life and saint-like departure God graunt vs his Grace so to imitate his Vertues as we may shut vp this our mortall and fraile life with so happy an end Amen Cardinall Bellarmyne was borne in the yeare 1542. the fourth day of October being the feast of S. Francis He entred into the Society of Iesus at Rome the 20. day of September 1560. He vvas made Cardinall the third day of March 1599. he dyed in the Nouitiate of Rome the 17. of September 1621. being fryday and the festiuall day of the holy vvoundes miraculously imprinted in the haÌ„ds feet and side of Saint Francis 24. dayes after he had left the Court vvanting but sixteene dayes of threescore and nynteene yeares of age He liued in the Society before his promotion 38. yeares fiue moneths and thirteene dayes in his Cardinalate two and twenty yeares six moneths and fourteene dayes Cuius memoria in benedictionibus dulcedinis