was depriued of that passing great ioye and felicitie and sent backe againe to this darcke prison of my bodie Thus much I thought good to signifie to you father and to others also for this end that when you vnderstand what a blesful state of life I haue forgon for a tyme God knoweth howe long and that I haue forgon the same by the ordinance of God for the weale and edifyng of soules you should not meruaile hereafter if you see that I beare a great loue to them who haue cost me so deere and that to wynne them to God I do alter the state of my life and conuerse with them more familiarly then I haue done hitherto When doctour Raimundus had heard thus much he gaue a great charge to as manie as were present of the brethren and sisters that they should in no wise vtter anie part of her talke so long as she liued For being a wise man he sawe that wordlie persones such as had not wholly and perfectly subiected all their vnderstandinge to the power of Christe were like to take more harme by it then good And he sawe then presently by experience that some of her owne scholers which had before that tyme heard and folowed her doctrine went backeward bicause they were not able to apprehend the high mysteries that she vttered vnto them But after her death fearing lest he should haue offended God if he had concealed such great workes and wonders he committed all to writing for the benefite of the posteritie For further confirmation wherof I thinke it not amisse to towch briefely a verie notable thing that it pleased our Lord to worke by her while she was so seperated from her bodie At what tyme this holie maid drewe neere to her death to the seemyng of such as were about her there resorted vnto her diuerse and sundrie of her spiritual children to see the maner of her passage and with them manie deuout persones both men and women By whome her Confessour doctour Thomas was also sent for to be present at her departure and to helpe her as the maner is with the praiers and Sacramentes of holie Church Who came speedily and three other of his brethren with him When they sawe that she had geuen vp the Ghost they lamented all for the losse of their deere mother but aboue the rest one of the religious brethren whose name was brother Iohn of Siena sorowed so much and wept so vehemently that he brake a vaine in his brest by reason wherof he coughed and auoided great gobbettes of blood Which was an occasion of double sorowe to as manie as were there for both they lamented the decease of the holie virgin which was alreadie gone and also the peril of that good man who with such paine was not like to continue long after Wherupon doctour Thomas her Cōfessour being inwardly moued with compassion said to that sicke Friar with a great faith and affiance in God Brother Iohn you knowe that this holie maid was of verie great merite and estimation in the sight of almightie God for her vertuous conuersation Wherfore take her hand and put it to the place of your bodie where you feele your selfe aggrieued And I doubt not but that you shal find helpe and comfort He did as he was willed and foorthwith the disease of his brest lefte him and neuer came againe so long as he liued There was present at all these doinges besides these afore named one of her spiritual daughters called Alexa who departed out of this wordle not long after There were also two other of the sisters of penance who came to make the bodie readie for the burial One of them was named Catherine which had bene her companion long tyme in religion the other was her cosen and was called Pisa These spirituall persons with many other gaue testimonie for the truthe of all this matter but aboue all others Friar Ihon did not only testifie it in wordes as other did but also declared the maner of it and affirmed it constantly in all places wheresoeuer he became 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. THis holy maide had such an earneste longinge after the blessed Sacramente of our Lordes body and blood and receiued the same so often that manie of them that resorted to that Church and saw hir verie often at the Aultar to receiue supposed that she had communicated daylie Which was an occasion of greate trouble both to her and to her Confessor by certaine vndiscreet and ignorant persons who being puffed vp with an opinion of knowledg and withall pretending some colour of pietie said that her often receiuing was not to be liked bicause it would in tyme cause her to haue the blessed Sacrament in lesse reuerence and estimation Which vaine and ignorant supposition her Confessour answered very learnedly alleaging most certaine and infallible groundes first out of the Actes of the Apostles where it is writen by S. Luke that the disciples of Christ and such as were newly turned to the faith by them did continue daily in breaking of bread that is in receiuing of the blessed Sacrament then also out of S. Denyse S. Pauls scholer who declareth likewise in his booke intituled Ecclesiastica Hierarchia that in the primitiue Church the faithful people did vse to communicate euerie daie and last of all out of the holie ghospel where we are taught by our Sauiour him selfe to saie in our dailie praier Geue vs this daie our daily bread Which bread maie in deed signifie our bodilie food and sustenance but not only nor principally for the bread that we ought principally to seeke at Gods hand euerie daie is the bread of our soule or rather to speake truly the bread of our soule and bodie Which is the bodie and blood of our Sauiour Christ really substantially ministred vnto the faithful people in the Church vnder the forme of bread in the holie Sacrament of the aulter But contrariwise for confirmation of their opinion they alleaged to the holie maid a saying of S. Augustine whose wordes are these To communicate daily is a thing which I neither praise nor blame Which fond allegatiton she answered her selfe verie pretily saying If it be so said she that S. Augustine will not blame me wherefore do you blame me As who should saie If S. Augustine who was a great learned man and knewe how to directe his iudgement by the rules of Gods word durst not take vpon him to determine the matter lest he should seeme to set him selfe a iudge ouer other mens consciences how dare you to iudge of my conscience and to blame me for often receiuing considering that the thing being in it selfe indifferent is made either verie good or verie euel according to the disposition of the persone that receiueth verie good and holesome if it be receiued worthely verie euel and pernicious if it
to eate her meate and not to geue anie credit to such deceueable visioÌ„s Wherunto she made answere and said that she found by experience that she was more healthie in bodie when she receiued no bodilie sustenance at all then she was when she did eate The ghostlie Father was nothing moued with that talke but taking all to be but only excuses he commaunded her precisely that she should eate Then she to shewe her selfe a true daughter of obedience did as she was commaunded and began to eate her meate vntill by eating she became so weake and wasted that she was at the verie point of death without anie hope of recouerie vnlesse she returned againe to her former Abstinence Wherupon she sent for her ghostlie Father and said vnto him Father said she I praie you tell me one thing in case I should by ouer much fasting kill my selfe should I not be gyltie of myne owne death yes said he Againe said she I beseech you resolue me in this Whether do you take it to be a greater synne to die by ouermuch eating or by ouermuch Abstinence By ouermuch eating said he Then sir said she seeing it is so that you see by experience that I am verie weake and euen at deathes doore by reason of my eating Whie doe you not forbid me to eate as you would forbid me to fast in the like case To that reason he could make none answere and therfore seeing by verie euident to kens that she was neere the point of death he made her this final resolution saying Daughter doe as God shall put in your mynd folowe the guydance of his holie spirite praie for me For I see the thinges that our Lord worketh in you are verie strange and not to be measured by the common rule How her strange maner of life was gaine-said and slawndered and how such gaine-sayinges and slawnders maie easily be answered Chap. 14. THis strange and vnwonted maner of life as it was to some of the better sort an occasion of praysing God in his wonderful workes so did it minister to manie vngodlie and ill disposed persones mater of slaunder and offence Some said that she made her selfe better then our blessed Ladie the Apostles yea better then our Sauiour Christ him selfe who as the holie scripture recordeth did eate and drincke Some other alleaged the rules of spiritual life which doe precisely forbid anie Religious persone to folowe anie singular maner of life Some other reasoned and said that vertue consisted in the meane and that all extremitie was to be suspected of vice Some said that she was beguyled by the Deuel some other said in plaine termes that she was an hypocrite and perswaded them selues that she did fast openly to bleere the eyes of the worlde but that she had good morsels in corners which the worlde knew not of Thus did euerie bodie thinke and report of her as it is wont to happen in such cases not as they found her better or worse but as they found them selues better or worse disposed But to make answere to these vaine surmises and false reportes briefely it is to be knowen that all men especially Religious and spiritual persones if they haue not vtterly ouerthrowen or done their best to ouer throwe selfe-loue in them selues but do labour still to gett the vaine estimation of the worlde are in great danger to be ouerthrowen by their owne ambitious mynd and so being blinded with such malice to enuie the gyftes and graces of God in others namely if they be such excellent and singular gyftes as maie seeme in anie degree to make their owne qualities to shewelesse in the opinion of men Such persones are wont commonly to couer their owne malice with the cloke of a certaine zeale which they pretend to haue to the honour of God and edifying of sowles vnder the which couert they will goe about to obscure and slaunder the gyftes of God in their neighbours geuing the worlde to vnderstand that whatsoeuer they see in them all is but the deceite of the Deuel illusions counterfeicting hipocrisie or lacke of discretion But in the end such malice is wont to discouer it selfe as this against the holie virgin doth especially if it be examined and tried by the rules of holie Scriptures and examples of other Sainctes of whom we are well assured that they were in the like case directed by the spirite of God To them therefore that saie that she preferred her selfe before our blessed Ladie the Apostles and Christ him selfe in that she obserued such a streight kind of fast as we read not the like of them it may be answered that our Sauiour Christ did as it is writen both eate and drincke contrariwise S. Iohn Baptist as our Sauiour him selfe witnesseth did neither eate nor drincke and yet will no man preferre S. Iohn before our Sauiour in regard of his singular Abstinence The like maie be said of manie of the auncient Fathers as S. Antoine Maâ—arius Hilarion Serapion and others who likewise kept a streighter fast then we reade of the Apostles and yet doth no man preferre them before the Apostles If they will adde furthermore and saie that this holie maides case is not altogether like to those auncient Fathers forsomuch as though they liued a meruelous streight kind of life and fasted farre aboue the common course of men yet did they eate somewhat and fasted not simply from all maner of bodilie sustenance to that it maie be answered that she had euen for that point the example of Marie Magdalen who liued in a rocke of the sea for the space of thirtie yeares together and neuer eate nor drancke in all that tyme. And yet was she neuer thought to be better then our blessed Ladie which did both eate and drincke To them that alleage the rules of spiritual life which doe expressely forbid all singularitie it maie easily be answered that no man ought to take such order of life vpon him selfe without a verie good and assured warrant from God but if he be commaunded by God to take anie such singular maner of life vpon him he maie not refuse it in respecte of the singularitie for that were to refuse the gyfte and grace of God The like answere maie be made to them also that reason and saie that all extremities are to be eschewed and only the meane to be embraced For it is a most certaine ground that whatsoeuer almightie God willeth can not be taken for an extremitie forsomuch as his will is to vs a most true and infallible rule by the which rule he measureth to euerie one accordingly as he seeth most expedient And manie tymes what we imagin to be to one man a great extremitie that knoweth he to be to an other man the verie iust meane wherin consisteth vertue As for those that said that she was deceiued by the Deuel there needeth none answere to be geuen forsomuch as the thing it selfe answereth them sufficiently For admit that she
patience contempte of the wordle and feruour towardes religion The which state of life she tendred so much that he buylded two monasteries of Nonnes and in the later of the two she liued a holie life and died a blessed death where it pleased God to worke manie greate and straunge miracles by her in her life time and many moe after her death Emonge other this was and is one that her bodie continueth still whole and vnputrified euen as it was at the verie hower of her departure When she was newly dead the people in regard of the wonderful signes that she had wrought emong them in her life thought to haue preserued her bodie with baulme But when they came to the bodie they sawe that it was needles forsomuch as there distilled a verie sweet and precious liqour out at the endes of her fingers toes that passed all baulme which was diligently gathered by them and put in a viole in the which it is kept to this daie and at tymes shewed to the people for a perpetual remembrāce of this great miracle The night that she died the yong babes that laie in bed with their fathers and mothers cried out and said Sister Agnes is now departed and she is a Saincte in heauen And the next mornyng a great companie of yong children by the instincte of God gathered them selues together and would admit none into their companie that was not a maid and set them selues in order after the maner of a procession and so went with candels burnyng in their handes to the monasterie where they offred them vp at the bodie of the blessed virgin euen as we are wont to doe at the monumentes of Sainctes These and manie other miracles were wrought by almightie God in the honour of S. Agnes which caused the people of the country to haue her relikes in great price and reuerence How the holie maid in hir life tyme healed manie that were sicke of the plague Chp. 3. ABout the yeare of our Lord 1373. ther was a great plague in the citie of Siena of the which manie men and women of all condicions and ages died verie soone after they were once taken some within one daie some within two and fewe or none passed the third daie which mortalitie caused a great terrour emong the people Doctour Raimundus chaunced to be in the citie at that tyme reader of the diuinitie lesson in his couent who being a charitable man tendring more the health of soules then the preseruation of his owne bodie as his profession and rule required he tooke great paines and went by daie and by night to the houses where he might vnderstand anie to be sicke to visite comfort and counsel them for their soules health And manie tymes when he was weerie of runnyng thus to and fro he vsed to turne a litle aside into an house or hospital called Our ladie of mercie and there to repose him selfe a while partly for rerecreation both of bodie and soule and partly also to speake with Maister Matthewe the rectour of the said house whome he loued entierly for vertues sake and resorted vnto him commonly once in the daie and so did the holie maid also verie often sometymes to conferre with him of spiritual matters and sometymes to aske either his aduise or charitie towardes the reliefe of the poore On a daie doctour Raimundus going to visite the sicke after his accustomed maner and passing by the gate of this house went familiarly to see how Maister Matthewe did with the rest of his family When he was entred he saw the bretheren and clearkes busilie occupied in carying Maister Matthew from the Church towardes his chamber With that he asked him cheerfully how he did But Maister Matthew was so feeble and so farre spent that he could not giue him one word to answere Then he asked them that were about him how that sicknes came to him And they made answere that he had watched that night with one that was sicke of the plague and about midnight tooke the sicknes of him since the which time said they he hath remained as yee see without coloure without strength without spirit When they had brought him to his chamber they laide him downe vopn his bedde VVhere when he had rested a litle while he came to him selfe againe called for doctour Raimundus and made his confession to him as he was wont often times to doe That done doctour Raimundus spake to him comfortablie M. Matthew said he how feele yee your selfe where is your paine My griefe said he is in my flancke and it paineth me so sore that me thinketh my thighe is ready to breake in sunder And I haue withal such a vehement headache that it seemeth as though my head would cleaue in fower partes With that he felt his pulses and fownd in deed that he had a verie sharpe feuer Wherupon he caused them to carrie his vrine to a learned phisicion that was in the citie called maister Sensus and soone after went him selfe to vnderstand his resolution and aduise in the matter When he came the phisicion declared vnto him that he sawe in the water verie euident tokens of an ague pestilential and also of death neere at hand for said he this water sheweth plainely to me certaine bubling or boiling of the blood out of the liuer which is the common disease that reigneth now ouer all the citie Wherefore I am verie sorie for I see we are like to leese a verie deere frend and they of his howse a verie good rectour What said doctour Raimundus is it not possible by your art to deuise some kind of medecine that maie doe him good We will see to morrowe said he whether we can purge that blood with Cassia Fistula but to tell you truely I haue small hope of doing anie good The disease is to farre gone When doctour Raimundus heard those vncomfortable wordes he returned towardes the sicke man againe with a heauie hart In this meane tyme it came to the eares of the holie maid that maister Matthewe was dangerously sicke and of the plague When she heard that she was troubled in spirite as it were against that euel for she knewe him to be a verie vertuous man and therefore loued him verie entierly and forthwith went in great hast towardes his howse And before she came at him she cried out with a lowd voice saying Maister Matthewe rise rise vp maister Matthewe It is no tyme to lie now sluggyng in your bed At that word and at that verie instant the paine in his slancke and headache and the whole disease forsooke him quite and he rose vp as merrie and as sound in all his bodie as if there had neuer ben anie such disease vpon him And when he was readie he honoured the the holie maid and gaue her most humble thankes saying that he knewe now by experience in his owne bodie that the power of God dwelled in her and wrought strange thinges by
her But she might not abide to heare anie wordes that tended to her owne commendation and therefore she went awaie As she was going out doctour Raimundus came towardes the howse and met with her in the gate looking verie heauily of the matter for he knewe nothing of all this that was done in the howse but came directly from the phisicion When he sawe her there being as it were ouercome with sorrowe he said to her O mother will you suffer this good man that is soe deere to vs so profitable and necessarie to mà nie others to die after this sorte To that shee made answere verie humblie shewing in deed that she had no liking in such wordes O Father said shee what maner of talke is this that you vse to mee Take yee me to be a God that you would haue me to deliuer a mortall man from death I pray you said he speake these wordes to some other that is a stranger to you and not to me that knowe your secretes I knowe right well that whatsoeuer you aske of God hartely he will grant it you With that she bowed downe her head a litle smyled and after a tyme looking vp to him againe cheerefully she said these wordes Father be of good cheere for he shall not die at this tyme. VVhen doctour Raimundus heard those wordes he was a glad man for he knewe well what grace and prerogatiue was geuen to her from aboue And so he went into the house to comfort his frind not knowing in deed that he had no need of it but supposing that the thing had ben yet to do that was alreadie done VVhen he came in he found him sitting vp in good health and liking declaring vnto them that were about him the maner of the miracle that was wrought vpon him selfe For the further confirmation wherof the table was laid and they eate together that mornyng not such meates as sicke men vse to eate but rawe oynions and such other grosse meates as can not be digested but only in whole stomakes And as they were eating they tooke great pleasure to recite the wonderful thinges that it pleased God to worke by the holie maid In the tyme while this contagious disease reyned in Siena it chaunced a certaine Hermite called Sanctus that liued in an Hermitage a litle without the citie to be infected with the same The which thing when the holie maid vnderstood she caused him to be taken out of his cell and brought to this afore mentioned hospital of our Ladie of mercie VVhere she came to him with certaine other of her sisters tended him prouiding for him all such thinges as she thought necessarie or requisite for a man in that case And to comfort him with wordes also she put her head to his and whispered him softely in the eare saying Be not afraid howsoeuer yee feele your selfe for yee shall not dye at this tyme. But to the rest that were there she said no such thing but rather when they entreated her that she would praie to God for his recouerie she gaue them but an vncomfortable answere which made them verie sad for they all knewe him to be a holie man and therfore both honoured and loued him verie tenderly The disease increased howerly more and more and he decayed so sensibly that they dispairing his life gaue ouer the charge of his body and looked only to the health of his soule At the length when he was in extreames they all stoode about him with greate heuines looking only when he woulde giue vp the ghost the holie maide came to him againe and said in his eare Be not afraid for yee shal not die at this time The sicke man both heard vnderstood that word though before it seemed that he was past all sense And he tooke comfort in it rather crediting the word of the holie maid that sounded in his eare then the throwes of death that griped him by the hart Howbeit he shewed no token of amendement and therefore they not vnderstanding what she had said prouided lightes and other thinges necessarie for his burial looking still when he would depart out of this life And in this howerly expectation of death they continued certaine daies longer in deed then men are wont to liue that are sicke of that disease At the length when it seemed that he was euen passing out of the wordle the holie maid came to him againe and spake these wordes in his eare I commaund thee in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that thou passe not at this tyme. At that word he tooke comfort of spirite and strength of bodie and rose vp in his bed and called for meate and in the presence of them all eate his meate with good appetite and receiued perfecte health and liued after manie yeares and was one of them that were present with the holie maid in Rome when she departed out of this wordle And he declared afterwardes what wordes the holie maid spake in his eare how by the vertue of the same his soule that was vpon the verie point of departing out of his bodie was mightely reteined adding furthermore that he esteemed the miracle that was wrought vpon him selfe to be no lesse then if she had raised him vp againe from death to life and that without all doubt it was no natural cause that had restored him againe but only the almightie power of God working by the meanes of that holie maid During this tyme of pestilēce in the citie of Siena it pleased God to worke an other miraculous cure by the meanes of the holy maid vpon Doct Raimundus her owne ghostlie father after this maner The plague increased so sore and the inhabitantes fled so fast for feare of infection not only the citizēs but also the priestes and religious persones that manie soules remained without comfort or counsel But doct Raimundus taried still in the citie would not remoue but determined with him selfe that he would visite helpe as manie as he could possibly The which charitable purpose being once knouē he was so much called vpō to earnestly intreated to come now to one house and now to an other bicause there were fewe or none to helpe him that he had scantly leisure to eate his meate or to take his rest One night whē he had rested on his bed thought to haue risen vp after his accustomed maner to say his seruice he felt a verie great paine in his flāke And feeling with his hand he found that there was a great sweelling in the place which made him sore afraid For experience had taught him that the disease begā commonly after that maner Wherfore he laie still in his bed durst not rise but began to thinke of death euermore wishing that it had ben daie that he might haue gone and spoken with the holie maid before the disease had taken full place in him In the meane tyme the ague came vpon him and withal a