to the same Aulter wher the holy maid was at which Aulter he was neuer wont to saie Masse at other tymes When he came thither and found her there attending his comyng and desiring to communicate he vnderstood that it was our Lord that had moued him to saie Masse that daie and to choose that Aulter contrarie to his accustomed maner He said Masse and at the end as the maner is he came to minister the blessed Sacrament to her at the Aulters end While she was receiuing her ghostlie Father beheld her and sawe her face all red and shynyng and bedewed with great aboundance of teares wherat he was meruelously astoined And she by receiuing the blessed Sacrament at that tyme was so replenished with the ioyous presence of our Lord and so mightely drawen inward by the vnspeakeable sweetnes that she felt in him that all the daie after she might not speake so much as one word to anie creature On the next daie her Confessour asked her what she eiled and what the cause was she had such a goodlie shynyng read in her face the daie before while she was receiuing the blessed Sacrament To whom she answered and said Father of what coulour my face was at that tyme I knowe not But this I knowe verie well When I vnworthie wretch receiued that blessed Sacrament at your hand it drewe me into it after such a sort that all other thinges sauing it alone waxed lothsome vnto me not only temporal thinges and delites of the worlde but also all other comfortes and pleasures were they neuer so spiritual Wherupon I made my humble praier to our Lord that he would take all such comfortes and delites from me that I might take pleasure in none other thing but only in him I besought him also that he would vouchsafe to take awaie my will and geue me his will The which petition he graunted me and said after this maner Behold deere daughter now I geue thee my will by the vertue whereof thou shalt be so strong that whatsoeuer shall happen vnto thee from this tyme foreward thou shalt neuer be altered or moued but shalt continue euermore in one state She declared yet furthermore to her Confessour and said Father said she will you knowe how our Lord serued me the last daie for sooth he dalied with me euen as a mother is wont to dalie with her child whom she loueth tenderly She will set her child some tymes a good waie from her when she myndeth to shewe him her tette and there will she suffer him to stand and crie after it All the which tyme she taketh pleasure to laugh at the fondnes of the child At the lenght when she hath suffred him to crie a good while she runneth to him with a laughing cheere clyppeth him in her armes huggeth and kisseth him and so geueth him the tette In like maner did our Lord with me He shewed me the blessed wound in his side and made as it were a certaine tender of the same vnto me but yet a farre of The which I seeing for the great desire that I had to put my mowth vnto it out of hand wept abondantly Our Lord suffred me to weepe and seemed to take pleasure in it At the length when I had wept a good while he came to me with a meruelous sweete and cheereful countenance and tooke my soule in his armes and put my mouth to his blessed wound Where by reason of the greedie desire that I had my sowle entred in all wholly and sucking there at will drewe out such vnspeakeable sweetnes and withal such a great knowledge of his diuinitie and godhead that whoso were able to conceiue it would be astoined to consider how it was possible for my hart not to breake feeling and receiuing such aboundance of loue into it as it did at that tyme. And he would meruaile now also to thinke how it were possible for me to sustaine life hauing such a continual flamyng fyer of charitie in my hart as I feele 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. THe same yeare vpon the 18. daie of August when she was to receiue the blessed Sacrament she said with great feruour and deuotion these wordes Lord I am not worthie that thou shouldest enter into my bodie And our Lord made her answere againe but I am worthie that thou shouldest enter into me And so receiuing the blessed Sacrament it seemed to her that her soule entred into him and he into her soule euen as a fish entreth into the water into the fish And with that she felt her selfe so mightely drawen vp into almightie God that the powers of her bodie failing her she had much a doe to returne home to her chamber whether when she was come she laied her selfe downe vpon her hard bed of boordes and laie there for a good space like a stone without anie mouing At the length her bodie was taken vp in the aier and there hong for an other space in the presence of three persones that bare witnes of all that happened at that tyme and so comyng downe againe she began as it were to awake out of a dead sleepe and lying verie weake and feeble vpon her bed she spake softely manie sweet wordes and vttered much good matter of high contemplations which caused as manie as were present to weepe Emong other wordes that she spake she praied for manie persones and for some specially namely for her Confessour who was at that tyme in the Church and had no mynd of anie thing that might moue him to deuotion and yet of a suddaine found in him selfe such a strange and wonderful feruour of deuotion as he neuer felt the like in his whole life before wherat he had great wonder While he was thus casting with him selfe what that strange and soddaine alteration might meane one of the sisters that had heard and seene the whole processe of the matter came in to him and said Father sister Catherine hath praied for you verie much this daie at such an hower When he heard that he vnderstood foorthwith that her praier was the cause of all that gracious alteration in him selfe Then he asked that other sister what maner of praier the holie maid had made And she tolde him that she had praied for him and for other that our Lord would vouchsafe to graunt then euerlasting life She tould him furthermore that when the holie maid had made this praier she stretched out her hand and besought our Lord to graunt her this petition And so taking in her hand againe she seemed to make as though it had ben verie sore and said with great sighing these wordes O Lord worshipped maiest thou be For so was she wont to saie so often as she felt anie griefe in her bodie When her Confessour heard all this he went foorthwith to her lodging and praied her that she
God Whose prouident goodnes disposeth all thinges for his chosen seruantes so sweetly that he turneth euen their synful deffectes to their further good benefite And therfore he would not suffer his deere spouse to cōtinue long in that state but that there might be nothing to hinder her feruour and deuotion he laid his hand soone after vpon Bonauentura her sister by whose meanes she was induced to that inconuenience and tooke her out of this life with great anguish and trauaile in child-bearing not withstanding that she was otherwise a lustie yong woman and like to beare manie children This Bonauentura was euer of good life and conuersation and yet bicause she had attempted to drawe her sister from the seruice of God to whom only she had wholly deuoted her selfe and to allure her to the vanities of the worlde it pleased God to shewe this dreadful example vpon her for the terrour of all such as should at anie tyme afterwardes be meanes to hinder holie vowes and purposes And yet would he not haue her to be vtterly lost but as it was reuealed afterwardes to this holie virgin and she declared the same secretly to her ghostlie Father she was in Purgatorie and there abode manie grieuous paines and tormentes for a long season and longer should haue done if this blessed virgin had not hopen her with her deuout praiers Now when her sister Bonauentura was thus passed out of the wordle this deuout maid being by her departure deliuered from that importunate clamour which was before verie troublesome vnto her began to see more cleerly both the deformitie of her synne and the vanitie of the wordle Wherupon with an humble knowledge of her selfe and sure affiance in the mercie of God she cast her selfe downe at the feet of our Lord with Marie Magdalen and there lying prostrate with much lamentation and teares besought him of pardon for her offence and would neuer geue ouer her weeping and wailing but continued stil her most humble sute that she also might at the lenght heare those comfortable wordes spoken by our Lord to her hart Thy sinnes are forgeuen thee And from that daie foreward she began to beare a special loue and deuotion to the said Marie Magdalen and to conforme her selfe to her in the workes of penance It can not be expressed with wordes what inward griefe of mynd shee tooke so often as that offence came to her mynd She sighed and sobbed she wept and wrang her handes she tooke no comfort in anie thing but only in the endles mercie of God of the which she made her selfe well assewred that it did infinitely passe all the sinnes that anie man doth or can commit and that it was alwaies freely offred to as manie as would require it with a contrite and humble hart wherupon she sequestred her selfe from all creatures which she sawe were void of cōfort and turned her selfe to God in whom only she fownd her selfe to receiue perfecte and sownd comfort With him she sought by all meanes to make her peace and attonement so that made to set her whole loue and felicitie in him But the ghostlie enemie of mankind enuying the blisful state of this goodlie peace did his endeuour to disturbe the same by putting into the myndes of her parentes and kinsfolke how expedient it was to bestowe her honestly in mariage especially now considering that her other sister was departed this life And so by these and other the like suggestions the craftie serpent perswaded them to be earnest and diligent both in solliciting her to embrace that state of life and in prouiding her of a conuenient husband But when the wise virgin sawe by the light of Gods holie spirite that all that was but the sutteltie of the deuel meanyng therby to withdrawe her from her holie purpose she contrarie wise set her selfe more earnestly then she was wont to continual praiers heauenlie meditations and other workes of austeritie and penance She eschewed the sight and conuersation of men and gaue all her frindes to vnderstand plainely that she would haue no earthlie creature for her husband but only the euerlasting Sonne of God vpon whom she had fixed her loue The which resolution when her father and mother vnderstood they thought good to take an other waie which was to send for one of the Dominican Friars whose authoritie they thought she would reuerence and to intreat him to talke with her and to see if he could by anie meanes alter her mynd The Friar came and promised to doe what in him laie and so did in deed He set out vnto her in manie wordes what austeritie of life belonged to that profession that she mynded to enter into what a hard matter it was to hold out in the same what snares the deuel would laie to entrappe her how the wordle would vse manie meanes to circumuent flatter her how fraile and weak the flesh was what a great danger and shame it would be if when she had once put her hand to the plough she should looke backe againe Vnto the which pointes the faithful spowse of Christ answered with such wisedome and constancie that the religious man which came to turne her was turned him selfe and so being sorie that he had waded so farre with her in that course changed his stile and said these wordes Daughter seeing it is so that yee are fully resolued to serue God in the holie state of virginitie and that yee are therunto called as I am thoroughly perswaded by your wordes euen by God him selfe I haue no more to saie in the matter it is the best part that yee haue chosen our Lord geue you grace to folowe it And now if yee thinke good furthermore to folowe my counsel I would aduise you to cut off your haire For in so doing it is like yee shall both cut of all hope of mariage in your parentes and withal redeme a great deale of tyme and labour which otherwise must needes be spent about the trymmyng of the same When the holie virgin heard those wordes she tooke them as spoken by God him selfe and foorthwith she ranne and tooke a payre of sheares and cut of her haire hard by the skynne For she had before conceiued a certaine displeasure against her haire bicause she perswaded her selfe that by the trymmyng of the same she had committed a grieuous offence against God And when she had so done she couered her head with a coyfe and so went about her busines contrarie to the maner of all other maidēs The which when her mother espied she asked her what that coife meant Wherunto she made no direct answeere bicause she was afraid to tell the truth and to make a lie she had a great conscience Whereupon her mother stept hastely vnto her and taking of the kerchefe from her head sawe that her faire haire was cut of hard by the head The which sight and losse so pinched her by the hart that for verie inward griefe she
feare of interruption when he was laid to sleepe So that night and daie she sought none other thing but how she might occupie her selfe in such vertuous exercises as were most liking to her heauenlie spowse vnto whom she commended her selfe and praied without ceasing that it would please him to be the keeper of her virginitie saying euermore with the glorious virgin and martyr Cecilia O Lord let my hart and bodie be kept vndefiled And our Lord who neuer faileth to succour his faithful seruantes in their distresse heard the crie his vniustly afflicted spowse and gaue her such strenght and comfort from aboue that she bare ouercame with great facilitie all that heauie burthen of vexations and troubles that her parents and kinsfolkes had laid vpon her And the greater enforcement they vsed to remoue her from her holie purpose the more firme and vnmoueable she shewed her selfe to be in continuyng the same In so much that at the lenght when her parentes sawe her firmenes and constancie they confessed and said in plaine wordes She hath ouercome vs. And her father who was more innocent then the rest considering secretly with him selfe of the doinges of his daughter perceiued euerie daie more more that she folowed in the whole state of her life not anie lightnes of youth or stubbernes of hart towardes her parents but only the motion and guidance of Gods holie spirite For the better confirmation wherof it pleased God so to dispose that on a daie when she was in her brothers chamber at praier leauing the doore open for her father mother had geuen her charge that she should be no where with the doore shut vpon her her father in the meane tyme entring into the chamber by chaunce seekyng some thing there of his sonnes that he had need to occupie at that tyme fownd her in a corner kneeling deuoutly vpon her knees and casting vp his eyes sawe a litle white doue sitting ouer her head which doue so soone as he was entred to his seemyng flewe out at the chamber windowe wherat being somewhat amazed he asked her what doue that was Sir said she I neuer sawe doue nor other byrd in the chamber that I wote of The which when he heard he was verie much astonied but kept the matter secretly to him selfe About this tyme the desire which this holie virgin had had of long tyme to put on the habit of S. Dominicke began to increase in her hart daily more more for the accomplishment wherof she ceased not by daie by night to offer vp her humble praiers and supplications to almightie God Who liked well of her request graunted the same therfore for her better assurance confort sent her this strange and euident vision Being on a tyme a sleepe it seemed that she sawe diuerse and sundrie of the Fathers and fownders of the rules of religion and emong them she sawe S. Dominicke whom she knewe well ynough by a white lilie that he held in his hand which lilie seemed to her to be all in a bright fyer as the bush was that Moyses sawe which burned and cōsumed not Those Fathers willed her to choose some one of their rules in the which she might lead her life and serue God with the greater merite She cast her eyes vpon S. Dominicke and turned her selfe whole to him who likewise came towardes her bringing in his hand the habite of the sisters commonly called the sisters Penitentes of S. Dominicke and said thus vnto her Daughter said he be of good comfort and dread no peril for it is certaine that thou shalt receiue this apparel and weare it The which wordes were so comfortable vnto her that she wept for ioye and gaue most humble thankes to almightie God and to the worthie patriarcke S. Dominicke And so with the force of teares gushing out of her eyes she awaked and came to her selfe againe By this vision she receiued such comfort and strength both in bodie and sowle and withal such a trust and affiance in God that the selfe same daie she called her father and mother brethren together and spake vnto them with a great grace and comelie boldnes after this maner It is now a long tyme sence yee first began to treat with me that I should marrie with some mortal man The which talke how much I euer abhored I neuer declared plainely but concealed it in part for reuerence that I bare vnto you But now I may no longer hold my peace and therfore I mynd to open my hart and purpose vnto you in plaine wordes It is so that I haue made a full resolution and promise to my Lord and Sauiour and to his most glorious Mother the blessed virgin Marie that I will serue them all the daies of my life in the cleane and holie state of virginitie And I geue you to vnderstand that this is no newe thing or lately come vpon me but a thing that I did long since euen in myne infancie being not with standing therunto moued not by anie childish lightnes but by long and sad aduisement and that not without verie euident tokens and most assured reuelations from almightie God And I haue vowed withal that I will neuer incline myne hart to accept anie other husband but only him And therfore now being come by his gratious goodnes to the yeares of discretion and more perfite knowledge I thought it my bownden duetie to aduertise you in expresse termes that thus much I haue by the will of God faithfully promised and thus much I will by the grace of God truly obserue This determinate purpose is so deepely imprinted in my sowle that it shal be more easie to make a hard flint softe then to take this godlie resolution out of myne hart Wherfore I most humbly beseech you that yee wil leese no more tyme in treating with me about mariage For in this matter I maie in no wise condescend to your request bicause I haue plight my faith and truth to Iesus Christ alone whose loue I doe and must preferre before all earthlie creatures Now if it shall please you to keepe me in your house with this condicion as your common seruant I will serue you willingly and obediently to the vttermost of my power If yee thinke by putting me out of your howse to enforce me to yeald vnto your demaūd for lacke of necessarie prouision assure your selues no feare of lacke can alter my mynd in this case For I haue chosen him for my husband that geueth foode to al liuing creatures who will not suffer them to be destitute of thinges necessarie that repose thēselues with a sure affiance in his prouident goodnes With these wordes pronounced with such a comelie grace modestie they were all so astoined withal so ouercome with tendernes of hart and weeping that for a good space they were not able to geue her one word for answere At the lenght her father who was a man that
out a wildernes in the middle of the citie and to make her selfe a solitarie place were there was great resort and concourse of people She continued in praier meditation in the night season vntill the Friars Preachers rang the second peale to Matins And then she went to take a litle rest saying these wordes to our Lord. Lord hitherto haue thy seruantes my brethren taken their rest and I haue kept the watch for them before thee our gardian protectour beseeching thee to keepe them from the assaultes of the enemie and all euel Now are they risen to praise thee wherfor I humbly praie thee to keepe them and to geue me leaue to rest a while And so she laid her selfe downe vpon the bare boordes and put vnder her head a hard blocke in steed of a bolster or pillowe Of diuerse and sundrie visions and reuelations shewed vnto her With a doctrine how to discerne betweene true and false visions Chap. 16. THis holie virgin declared in secret confession to her ghostlie Father that at what tyme she began to retire her selfe from all conuersation and to liue alone in her cell it pleased her spowse Iesus Christ to visite her in visible maner and to geue her instructions in matters concernyng her saluation Father said she take this for a most certaine truth that I was neuer taught the rule of spiritual life by anie man or woman but only by Iesus Christ the spowse of my sowle who hath informed me alwaies either by secret inspiration or els appeering openly vnto me and speaking to me as I now speake to you She declared moreouer to her ghostlie Father that at the begyning her visiōs were for the most part only wrought in her imagination but afterwardes they were sensible in so much that she sawe with her bodilie eyes and heard with her bodilie eares the sownd of the voice that spake vnto her She reported furthermore that at the begynning she began to doubt and feare lest it might be some deceite or illusion of the ghostlie enemie who transfigureth him selfe into an Angel of light Which feare our Lord misliked not but rather commended it highlie vnto her and said that so long as a man or woman liueth in this life he should alwaies stand in feare according as it written Blessed is the man that is euer fearfull And he asked her whether she were willing to learne of him certaine notes and tokens by the which she might be able to discerne betweene the true visions of God and the false illusions of the enemie Wherunto she made answere with great submission and lowlines of spirite and besought him humbly that he would vowchasafe to teach her Then he said these wordes Daughter It were an easie matter for me to informe thy sowle inwardly with the secret instincte of my spirit in such sort that thou shouldest at all tymes discerne perfectly and without errour betweene true visions and counterfeicte illusions But bicause my will is that it should profit others as well as thee therfore I will teach thee a general rule and lesson which is this My vision beginneth euermore with feare and dread but in processe of tyme it setteth a sowle in great ioye quietnes and securitie It begynneth with some kind of bitternes but in continuance it waxeth more deliteful sweet The visions of the enemie are contrarie For in the begynning they shewe a kind of securitie and gladnes but in processe they turne to feare and bitternes which increase afterwardes and waxe greater and greater And it standeth with good reason for so much as my waies and the waies of the enemie haue this special difference My waies are the keeping of the commaundementes in perfection of a vertuous and godlie life which leadeth vnto me These seeme at the begynnyng to be full of difficultie and vnpleasant but in tyme they become easie ynough pleasant But the waies of the enemie are the transgressing of my commaundementes in the libertie of the flesh and licentiousnes of life which shewe at the begynnyng to be deliteful and pleasant but in continuance of tyme they proue in verie deed dangerous painful and vnpleasant Take this also for a most certaine and infallible rule to discerne betweene true and false visions Bicause I am truth it can not otherwise be but that euermore by my visions the sowle of man must needes receiue a greater knowledge of truth by the which knowledge he cometh to vnderstand both his owne basenes the worthines of God and so consequently to doe due honour and reuerence to God and to make litle account of him selfe which is the proper condicion of humilitie The contrarie happeneth in the visions of the enemie For he being the father of lying and king ouer al the children of pride can geue none other thing but only what he hath and therfore in his visions there must needes ensue in a sowle ignorance and errour by reason wherof it conceiueth a false reputation of it selfe which is the proper condicion of pride By this maiest thou knowe whether thy visions be of me or of the enemie of truth or of falshood If they come of truth they will make thy sowle humble if they come of falshood they will make thy sowle prowd Thus was she instructed of the teacher of all truth Iesus Christ and she kept his doctrine and instructions verie faithfully in mynd and vttered them afterwardes to her ghostlie Father and others for their instruction as it shal be declared hereafter And after this time it pleased God to send her so manie visions and reuelations that who so would consider of them aduisedly he should see that it were hard to find anie two men in the wordle more familiary acquenited then our Lord and she were In so much that whether she praied or read or meditated or walked or waked or slept she was at all tymes and in all places visited and comforted of our Lord. And which is more while her tongue was outwardly speaking vnto men her hart was inwardly bent vpon God and spake spiritually with him Howbeit that could not endure anie long tyme forsomuch as her sowle was within a litle space so drawen vp and vnited to God that it could not choose but forsake vtterly the senses and powers of the bodie Of a verie goodlie and profitable doctrine of our Sauiour worthie to be planted in the hartes of as manie as are desirous to come to spiritual perfection Chap. 17. EMongest a nomber of goodlie and high lessons that she learned of our Sauiour this was one On a tyme while she was praying our Sauiour appeered to her and said Daughter knowest thou what thou art and what I am If thou haue a perfecte knowledge of these two pointes thou art blessed For by the meane therof thou shalt easily escape all the snares of the enemie and shalt not at anie tyme geue consent to anie synne that is against my commaundementes but contariwise thou shalt be
the which he mynded to make a perfecte buylding of spiritual life An other goodlie doctrine by the which a sowle is made pure and meete to ennioye the familiaritie of almightie God euen in this life with a miracle wrought by our Lord on the sea for confirmation of the same Chap. 18. IT pleased almightie God to teach this his scholer an other verie notable lesson not vnlike to that afore mentioned On a tyme he appeered vnto her and said these wordes Daughter thinke on me and I shall thinke on thee The which wordes she tooke to be spoken in like sense as she declared afterwardes to her ghostlie Father as if our Lord had said in plaine wordes vnto her Daughter haue no thought or care of thy selfe neither bodily nor ghostly for I that knowe what is behoueful for thee better then thou dost thy selfe will thinke vpon thee and prouide with all care and diligence for thy necessities Only set thou thy self to thinke on me for in that standeth thy perfection and final blisse This is a great lesson and vndoubtedly verie profitable to him that would exercise it faithfully For the will of God towardes vs as the Apostle saieth is our sanctification which consisteth in vniting our selues to him by loue which loue cānot be wrought in our willes vnlesse our hart be wholly discharged of the cares of all earth lie thinges Forsomuch as God is a thing of such excellencie that he deserueth to dispossesse our hart of all other thinges that him selfe maie enter take possession of it as the only rightful Lord and owner of the same But bicause he seeth that we stand in need of manie thinges for the preseruation of our bodie which if we haue not prouided from tyme to tyme it must needes decaie therefore he added furthermore and said and I will thinke on thee Which wordes import so much as those that he spake to his disciples when he willed them to be careles for all earthlie thinges aperteinyng to the maintenance of the bodie and to set their whole hope and affiance in his prouident goodnes For if it be so that he prouideth so dwely for the necessarie sustentation of byrdes in the aier of beastes and wormes in the earth and of all other liuing thinges if he haue such a fatherlie care to clad the verie trees plantes flowers and other insensible creatures how much greater care is it like that he will haue of man for whose sake all these creatures were made as being the most excellent creature made vnto the image of God specially chosē to haue the ioyfull fruition of him selfe She reasoned furthermore with Church men specially with Priestes and religious persons after this maner Seing it is so said she that we haue made a full resignatiō of our selues vnto God first in Baptisme and afterwardes when we entred into holie Orders or tooke vpon vs the state of a religious life surely there is no cause why we should be houefull for our selues in anie thing forsomuch as God to whom we haue resigned our selues both can and will prouide whatsoeuer he knoweth to be behoueful for vs. Wherefore our whole and onlie care ought to be how to please and serue him And that we must doe not only in respecte of the reward that we looke for at his hand but specially and principally in consideration of the worthines of that blessed band of loue and vnion which is betweene vs and him In so much that the blessed state of life euerlasting is to be desired of vs not so much for it selfe as bicause it vniteth vs perfectly and inseparably to our begynning and original being which is almightie God It can not be expressed in wordes what a great affiance this holie maid conceiued of those wordes of our Sauiour And I will thinke on thee in the which wordes she tooke such a passing ioye and delite that she could neuer haue her fill of thinking and speaking of them In so much that she made a treatise called a Dialogue wherin she expressed the wonderful frutes of the same as they maie well perceiue that read it or rather to saie better that can perse into the matter and haue a tast in it She was wont also to saie to Doctour Raimundus her ghostlie Father and to other that were familiar with her when she sawe them dismaied and pensiue for anie strange accident that chansed vnto them Leaue all said she to God what haue you to doe of your selues For you to take care for these thinges is to take from God his care and prouidence as though he either would not or could not prouide for you in all cases Knowe you not that he hath a greater care of you then you haue of your selues And that he is both able and willing to award you from all euels It chaunced on a tyme that Doctour Raimundus and manie other both men and women were in a ship on the sea emong whom was this holie maid also and when the night came on they were in great peril as the pilote said to be caried for lacke of a good wind into strange ylandes and farre countries The which thing Doctour Raimundus vnderstanding came to her and spake after a lamentable maner Mother said he for so they vsed to call her see you not in what danger we stand To whom she made answere readily and said What haue you to doe of your selues With that Doctour Raimundus held his peace tooke a better comfort And anon after there blewe a contrarie wind which enforced the pilote as he said to returne back againe which thing her ghostlie Father went and declared vnto her also Wherunto she said Let him turne the ship a Gods name and folowe the wind that God sendeth And so he did and she in the meane tyme bowed downe her head and made her praier to God And they kept not on that course so farre as a man would shoot an arrowe but that there came a gracious wind that brought them to the hauen that they desired to their great wonder and gladnes singyng all with a ioyfull voice Te Deum laudamus Certaine goodlie sayinges which she was wont to vse to excite her selfe and others to the perfection of Charitie Chap. 19. OFten tymes when she conferred with her ghostlie Father and talked concernyng the worthines and state of a sowle that loued God with a perfecte charitie she was wont to vtter this sentence A sowle said she that loueth God perfectly neuer seeth loueth or remembreth anie other creature neither it selfe nor anie other thing The which saying she declared more plainely after this maner Such a sowle said she seeth that of it selfe it is nothing and that all her being and welfare dependeth of God only in whom she findeth by experience that al her felicitie standeth and in none other creature and therfore she wholly forsaketh both her selfe and all other thinges doth as it were plonge her selfe in the loue of
of God who seeth that his seruantes doe commonly take more good of their battailes against the enemie then they doe in the tyme of peace to suffer his humble handmaid to enter a great combat with prowd Satan And bicause his will was that she should ouercome in that battaile he would that besides the furniture which he had geuen her before she should now put on a special armour of Fortitude to serue her against all the assaultes of the enemie The which though he were willing to geue her of his own more bowntifulnes yet bicause he deliteth to be sought vnto and geueth his graces more willingly when they are earnestly sought and instantly craued at is hand therefore certaine daies before this battaile should begynne he put in the hart of his spowse that she should humble her selfe before him in praier and craue the vertue of Fortitude The which praier our Lord answered effectually and gaue her both the vertue that she desired and withal a verie sweet lesson concernyng the same saying Daughter if thou wilt haue the vertue of Fortitude thou must endeuor to folowe me True it is that I was able of myne owne power to ouercome all the forces of the enemie by diuerse and sundrie waies But for your behoose and example I chose rather to vanquish him by dying vpon the Crosse that you that be only men might learne if you mynded to encounter with the enemie to take the Crosse as I did and so by vertue of the same to ouercome al his wyles and strength And be you well assured that this Crosse shal be a refresshing vnto you in your tentations if you haue mynd of the paines that I suffred on it for your sake If you suffer for my loue with me you shal be rewarded with me And the more like you be to me in this life in persecutions and paines the more like shal you be to me in the life to come in ioye and rest Embrace therefore my deere daughter embrace the Crosse receiue all bitter thinges and aduersities with a willing and cheereful hart And dread no power neither of man nor of the deuel For in whatsoeuer tyme or maner they shall make anie enforcement against thee by this meane thou shalt easily withstand put backe all their violent attemptes When this good disciple of Christ had heard this lesson she forgat it not but laied it vp with a diligeÌ„t regard in her memorie And euermore afterwardes she had passing great ioye and delite in bearing tribulation and aduersitie In so much that there was nothing in the earth that she tooke such inward comfort in as she did in Crosses troubles and hard discipline For she beleeued assuredly that by troubles and vexations she approched neere vnto her spowse and was made like vnto him the which the longer they were and more extreme the greater weight of glorie she knewe that they wrought in her for the tyme to come Now when our Lord sawe that his spowse was thus sufficiently furnished armed against all assaultes it seemed a fit tyme to open the waie to the enemie and to permit him to come against her with all his strength malice Satan sawe how much she profited in spiritual life how lustely stowtely she clymmed vp to the mount of all perfection He coÌ„sidered that she was of the weaker kind to witt a woman and withal of yeares verie yong and tender all the which turned him to greater griefe confusion He weighed also the great opinion and â—ame of vertue which men had conceiued of her by reason whereof he sawe that in tyme he was in daÌ„ger to leese manie sowles whereupon when he was permitted by God he began to assiege this stroÌ„g fortresse diuerse and sundrie waies The first assaultes were verie strange tentations of the flesh in the which sommetymes he fourmed in her fantasie both waking and sleeping illusions and dreames which were wanton and vnhonest and sometimes he made certaine corporal visions to appeere vnto her forming bodies in the ayer the which he caused to vtter manie wordes and gestures which were verie filthie and vnseemelie to be spoken When the blessed virgin heard and sawe those thinges she ran foorthwith with great feare and horrour according to the doctrine that she had learned to her yron chaine with the which she beat her bodie so much that the blood ran out in streames And vnto that rough discipline she added further more so much watching that in a maner she yealded no rest at all to her bodie But the more she increased her austeritie of discipline the more did the enemie busie him selfe in renewing and multiplying his assaultes cawsing such visions to appeere vnto her both more manifestly and also in greater nomber and sometymes they shewed them selues to haue as it were a certaine pitie and compassion on the great penance that she put her selfe vnto and said vnto her Alas poore wretch what meanest thou thus to torment thy bodie in vaine Weenest thou that thou shalt be able to endure this hard discipline to the end What gayne shall it be to thee if thou murther thy selfe How much better were it for thee to leaue off this folie before thou be vtterly spent Thou art yet a yong woman and the tyme of pleasure is not passed Nature is not so decaied but that thou maiest well recouer both thy strength bewtie and so shew emong other women and take a husband and leaue some increase to the worlde Maiest thou not as well please God in the holie state of matrimonie as in this barren and vnfruteful state that thou hast now taken Hast not thou heard tell of Sara Rebecca Lia Rachel with manie others that liued verie perfectly and honorably in the state of matrimonie Who hath brought thee to enter into this singular trade of life so hard and streight that thou shalt neuer be able to hold out in it All the while that the enemies were speaking these and other the like wordes vnto her she continued in praier and kept her hart pure from all vncleannes and gaue them not one woord to answere sauing only when they went about to bring her in despaire of continuance in that holie order of life then would she saie I trust in my Lord Iesu Christ and not in my selfe And they could neuer gett other word of her And therefore afterward when she talked with her ghostlie Father and others that conuersed with her she was wont to geue them this lesson for a general rule that when they had to deale with the enemie tempting them to anie maner of synn they should neuer stand to reason or dispute with him forsomuch as he trusteth verie much in his malicious sophistical suttelties if he maie a litle incline the will of man he wil soone induce his vnderstaÌ„ding to errour But the surest waie in this case is to deale as a true wife is wont to doe when she is moued by an adulterer to
dishonestie vnto whom she maketh none answere whatsoeuer he saie neither will she so much as looke in his face but foorthwith turneth awaie from him and so keepeth her selfe faithfull and true to her husband And so did this chast virgin to her spowse Christ and by this meane she gate a great victorie ouer her enemie boring his eares with the naile of a strong and faithful praier Howbeit though he sawe his first assault thus easily frustrate and put by yet did he not cease but moued an other battaile against her which was much more fierce and cruel then the foremer How the enemie accompained with a great multitude of vncleane spirites renewed his battarie against this strong Fortresse and vsed greater enforcement then before Chap. 21. WHen the vncleane spirites sawe that this attempt tooke no place but was by the grace of God easily ouercome they tooke diuerse and sundrie shapes of men and women and setting them selues in such fourmes before the eyes of the chast virgin they exercised most filthie actes of the flesh and spake verie fowle wordes and vsed all possible meanes to sterre vp her mynd and bodie to vncleannes The which what a great griefe it caused to her vnspotted and maidenlie hart those only are able to consider that knowe what a goodlie treasure a pure and chast conuersation is in the sight of God and so consequently what a great losse it is to be in danger to be spoiled of the same It was also a great torment and increase of heauines to her mynd to consider that her deere spowse and Lord who was wont afore to visite and comfort her oftentymes seemed now as though he had vtterly forsaken her and would no more relieue and succour her in her distresse although for her part she did what in her laie knocking at the gate of his mercie with continual praier teares and hard discipline vpon her bodie And when she sawe that he made no answere she began to deuise a certaine newe maner of sleight to encounter with the enemie how be it not without the secret instincte of God which was this She conceiued a meruelous great misliking of her selfe and against her owne synnes and so turnyng her indignation as it were against her selfe she vttered such wordes Ah most vile wretch lookest thou to receiue cōfort Thinkest thou that thy synnes haue deserued it at Gods hand O most vnkind caitife is it not ynough for thee that thou art pardoned of the paines of hell O vnthankeful creature dost not thou take it to be gaine ynough that the endles mercie of God that changed those euerlasting tormentes into these temporal afflictions Were it not a verie gaineful exchange for thee though they should endure all the tyme of thy life Wilt thou then be dismaied and relent thy wonted mortification and discipline knowing that by theses meanes thou shalt escape endles paines and within a short tyme receiue endles ioye and comfort at the hand of thy deere spowse Iesus Christ By this maiest thou trie whether thou haue chosen to serue God for these temporal visitations and comfortes or else in hope of that euerlasting blesse and ioyful fruition of him selfe in the life to come A wake therefore take a good hart fight manfully and expecte with patience the good will and pleasure of God Now is the tyme for thee to increase to thy selfe labour and paine and to his holie name honour and glorie It can not be expressed in wordes how much she was strengthened in sowle by this meane and contrariwise how much the prowd enemie was by the same confownded and weakened She confessed afterwardes to her ghostlie Father that there was such a rabble of those fowle feendes at that tyme in her chamber mouing her diuerse and sundrie waies to vncleannes that she was enforced for a tyme to flee from her chamber to the Church and there to keepe more then she was wont to doe How be it euen in the Church also she was molested thought not so much as before in her chamber Whether when she returned afterwardes she was againe so beset with such a compaine of vncleane spirites representing there before her so manie actes of filthines and that with so great importunitie and strange maners that it was a verie miracle how she was able to susteine the same But she forth with falling downe to the earth there lying groueling on her face in praier besought God of his mercie with such mightie sighes and groanes that in contemplatiō of her pitiful crie he somewhat asswaged the furie of those fowle feendes And so continuyng in such afflictions and troubles a great number of daies at the lenght when at a tyme comyng from the Church and lying after such a maner in her chamber she made her earnest praier vnto God crauing his mercifull aide and assistance there appeered a certaine comfortable beame of the holie Ghost which brought vnto her remembrance the goodlie lesson that our Lord had thaught her before when she praied vnto him for the gyfte of Fortitude And so vnderstanding that all that was there done was only the tentation of the enemie she receiued great ioye in her hart and determined from that daie foreward to suffer meekely gladly all maner of tentations and afflictions for the loue of her spowse Iesus Christ Then one of those wicked sprites who was peraduenture of greater boldnes and malice then the rest spake vnto her after this maner Wretched woman what meanest thou Thinkest thou euermore to lead such a state of life as this is Make thy selfe well assured of this We shall neuer geue thee one hower of respite but shall paine and vexe thee continually vntill thou yeald and consent vnto our will Vnto whom she made answere out of hand with a great courage and affiance in God and said I haue chosen paine for my refreshing and therefore it shall not be yrckesome to me but rather pleasant and delitefull to suffer these and all other afflictions for the loue of my Lord and Sauiour so long and so much as shall please his diuine maiestie With that woord all that detestable companie of vncleane sprites vanished quite awaie with a verie dreadfull horrible noyse And behold foorth with there appeered a meruelous goodlie light from heauen which shone all ouer her chamber and in that light our Sauiour Christ in such fourme and maner as he was when he hong vpon the Crosse and there shed his most precious blood for the redemptiō of the worlde Who called her vnto him and and said these wordes Myne owne daughter Catherine seest thou not what I haue suffred for thy sake Thinke it not much therefore to suffer for me After that he approched neerer vnto her in an other fourme to comfort her and spake vnto her manie sweet and louing wordes and she likewise to him O Lord said she vsing the wordes of S. Antonie where wert thou when my hart was so vexed with sowle and
lothsome tentations Daughter said he I was in thyne hart Then said she againe O Lord sauing alwaies thy truth and my dutiful reuerence to thy diuine Maiestie how is it possible that thou shouldest dwell in an hart replenished with so manie filthie and shameful thoughtes Whervnto our Sauiour said Tell me daughter Those vncleane thoughtes did they cause in thy hart grief or delite No said she they caused very great griefe and sorrowe Who then said our Lord was he that caused that griefe and misliking in thyne hart Who was it but only I that laie secretly within in the middle of thy soule Assure thy selfe of this If I had not ben there present those fowle thoughtes that stood rownd about thyne hart seeking meanes to enter but euermore with the repuâ—â—e had without all doubt preuailed and made their entrie into thy sowle with full consent of thy will and synful delite But my presence was it that caused that misliking in thyne hart and moued thee to make resistance against those fowle tentations the which thy hart refused so much as it could bicause it could not doe so much as it would it conceiued a greater displeasure both against them and also against it selfe It was my gracious presence that wrought all these goodlie effectes in thyne hart wherein I tooke great delite to see my loue my holie feare and the zeale of my faith planted in thy sowle my deere daughter and spowse And so when I sawe my tyme which was when thou haddest through my grace and assistance thoroughly vanquished the pride and insolencie of thyne enemie I sent out certaine external beames of my light that put these darcke feendes to flight For by course of nature darckenes maye not abide where light is last of all by my light I gaue thee to vnderstand that those paines were thy great merite gayne and increase of the vertue of Fortitude And bicause thou offredst thy selfe willingly to suffer for my loue taking such paines with a cheerefull hart and esteemyng them as a recreation according to my doctrine therefore my will and pleasure was that they should endure no longer And so I shewed my selfe where vpon they vanished quite awaie My daughter I delite not in the paines of my seruantes but in their good will and readines to suffer patiently and gladly for my sake And bicause such patience and willingnes is shewed in paines and aduersitie therefore doe I suffer them to endure the same Take this similitude of my bodie At what tyme my bodie hong vpon the Crosse in extreme paines and tourmentes and afterwardes when it laie dead vpon the ground no man could euer haue thought that all that notwithstanding there had ben in it hiden that true life that geueth life and mouing to euerie liuing thing And yet so it was by reason of the inseperable vnion that was and is betweene my Godhead and humane nature though not so vnderstood of men no not of myne owne Apostles and disciples that had conuersed with me a long tyme. Now as at that tyme when my bodie laie there dead void of sense and without all outward shewe of anie inward power there was not withstanding in it a diuine power able to quiken and geue life to other creatures no lesse then afterwardes when it was raised from death and endewed with the glorious gyftes of immortal life euen so though after a different maner do I dwell in the sowles of my faithful seruantes at one tyme couertly and without shewing my selfe for their exercise further merite and at an other tyme openly and without couert for their comfort and ioye In this the tyme of thy battaile I was in thyne hart armyng and fortifying thee with my grace against the force of the enemie but couertly for to exercise thy patience and increase of merite But now that thou hast through my grace fought out thy battaile manfully and vanquished the enemie I geue thee to vnderstand that I am and wil be in thyne hart more openly yea and withal more often for thy comfort And with these wordes that blessed vision ended at what tyme the holie virgin was left replenished with such abundance of ioye and sweetnes that no penne is able to describe it And specially she tooke passing great comfort in that that our Lord called her Myne owne daughter Catherine And therefore she entreated her ghostlie Father that when he spake vnto her he would vse the selfe same wordes and saie My daughter Catherine to the end that by the often repetition of those wordes she might often tymes renewe the inward sweetnes that she felt in her hart of those ioyous wordes of her Deere Lord and spowse How our Lord with diuerse other Sainctes visited her oftentymes verie familiarly And how he taught her to read by miracle Chap. 22. FRom that tyme foreward it pleased our Lord to vse a verie vnwonted familiaritie with her and to visite her both verie often and verie louingly euen as one frend is wont to visite an other comyng to her sometymes him selfe alone sometymes bringing with him his most blessed mother the virgin Marie some tymes the holie patriarke S. Dominicke sometymes also with his mother S. Marie Magdalene S. Iohn the Euangelist the Apostle S. Paul and other Sainctes whom he brought with him sometymes all together and sometymes againe some one or els some few of them according as his pleasure was For the most part he came alone and conferred with her euen as one familiar is wont to doe with an other In so much that manie tymes they walked vp and downe in her chamber together and said the psalmes or diuine seruice together as though they had ben two clerkes or religious persones Which maie seeme a verie strange thing and so much the more if it be considered withal that she neuer learned to read by the teaching of anie man or woman for as she declared to her ghostlie Father she had a great desire to learne her mattins and therefore on a tyme she besought one of her sisters to geat her an A. B. C. and to teach her the lettres But when she had trauailed about the same a certaine of weekes and sawe that she did but leese her tyme she thought good to geue ouer that course and to set her selfe againe to her customable exercises of praier and meditation And one tyme lying prostrate on the grownd she made her praier after this maner Lord if it be not thy holie will and pleasure that I shall atteine the knowledge of reading I am verie well content for thy loue to continue in my ignorance and to spend my tyme in such simple meditations as it shal please thee to graunt me But if thou wouldest vowchsafe to shewe me so much fauour as that I might be able to read and sing the deuine seruice I would be right glad also to serue thee in such maner It is a wonderfull thing to report that she had no sooner ended her praier
but that she was foorthwith able to read as readily as one that had ben trained long tyme in the studie of learnyng Whereat her ghostlie Father was meruelously astoined forsomuch as it was well knowen to all that conuersed with her that before that tyme she could not only not read or spell but also verie hardly knowe one letter from an other After this tyme she gate her bookes of Church seruice and began to saie her Mattins and other Canonical howers in the which she noted disigently the verses of the psalmes but especially that verse that is vsed commonly in the begynning of euerie hower to wite Deus in adiutorium meum intende Domine ad adiuuandum me festina and kept the same in her mynd with a special regard to her liues end How she increased so much in heauenlie contemplations that she was often tymes rauished in the same and how she was espowsed to our Sauiour Christ with a Ring Chap. 23. AFter this tyme increasing daily in heauenlie contemplations she was at the lenght enforced almost to geue ouer all vocal praier bicause she was no soener set to praie but that foorthwith she was so much eleuated in the height of her spirite and so rauished from her bodilie senses that she might scantly endure to end one Pater noster Whereupon hauing an earnest desire in her hart to haue yet a further increase of perfection in spiritual life and to clymme vp to the highest point of charity she made her petition vnto almightie God in most humble maner that it would please him to geue her such a light of faith that being guided by the same she might from that tyme foreward walke surely and without alteration in the pathes of his holie commaundementes and make resistance against all the attemptes of of the enemie The which request our Lord tooke in good part and answered verie comfortably and sweetly saying these wordes I will make thee my spowse in faith And euermore as she increased in desire and multiplied her praier so heard she the same sentence repeated and confirmed by our Lord saying vnto her I will make thee my spowse in faith At the last it happened a litle before the begynning of lent in the shrouing daies at what tyme men are wont of a corrupt custome to gather together after a synful maner and to geue them selues ouermuch to bellie cheere that this wise virgin sequestred her selfe from all companie and closing her selfe vp all alone in her cell she besought our Lord with great austeritie of life with long fasting continual watching and feruent praier that he would vowchsafe to perfourme his promise in geuing her that perfection of faith that she so much desired While she was thus praying with great feruour of mynd and instance behold our Lord appeered vnto her after a verie comfortable maner and said these wordes Bicause thou hast forsaken all the vanities of the worlde and set thy loue vpon me and because thou hast for my sake rather chosen to afflicte thy bodie with fasting then to eate flesh with others especially at this tyme when all other that dwell rownd about thee yea and those also that dwell in the same howse with thee do bancket make great feastes therefore I am determined this daie to keepe a solemne feast with thee and with great ioye and pompe to espowse thy sowle to me in faith As our Lord was speaking these wordes there appeered in the same place the most glorious virgin Marie mother of God the beloued disciple S. Iohn the Euangeliste the great trompet of the holie Ghost S. Paul the Apostle and the most worthie patriarke fownder of her order S. Dominicke and after these came the kinglie prophet and poete Dauid with a musical psalter in his hand on the which he plaied a heauenlie song of inestimable sweetnes in the eares of the newe spowse Then our blessed Ladie came to her and tooke her by the hand and withal stretched out her fingers towardes her Sonne with a verie comelie grace and besought him that he would vowchsafe to espowse her to him selfe in faith Whereunto he assented foorthwith with a verie sweete and louelie countenance and taking out a ring that was set about with fower precious pearles and had in the other part a meruelous ritch diamant put the same on the finger of her right hand saying thus Behold I here espowse thee to me thy Maker and Sauiour in faith Which shall continue in thee from this tyme forward euermore without anie change or alteration vntill the tyme come that thou shalt consummate the same with me in a most perfecte and blesful coniunction in the ioyes of heauen Wherefore from hence foorth beare thy selfe stowtly and be not dismaied for thou art now armed with the armour of faith by the vertue whereof thou shalt withstand and ouercome all the assaultes of the enemie And with that this vision vanished awaie and left her replenished with such ioye and sweetnes that no tongue is able to expresse it Certaine proofes of the holines of this blessed virgin declaring the afore-mentioned streight frindship and familiaritie betweene our Lord and her to be a thing vndoubted Chap. 24. IT may be that manie of the thinges mentioned before in this booke maie seeme to to some men verie strange and almost incredible And no merueile for whie so they seemed euen at that tyme to manie men not only of such as had litle acqueintance with her but of those also that liued familiarly with her who as they were much induced to thinke reuerently of her by seeing her vertuous and holie conuersation so contrariwise they were put in great doubt and perplexitie by reason of the thinges that she did Emong others that cast such doubtes was doctour Raimundus her ghostlie Father a great learned and wise man who at the begynnyng of his familiaritie with her could not resolue whether those wonderful thinges that he heard and sawe in her were true or counterfeicte and whether they proceeded of God or of the deuel While he stood thus in doubt and had a great desire to be resolued in the matter bicause it stood him vpon being her ghostlie Father neither to deceiue nor to be deceiued but to iudge aright of spirites it came to his mynd that if he could by her meanes and intercession obteine for him selfe a true Contrition of all his synnes such as he neuer had before together with a perfecte sorowe for the same and earnest desire to make a full Satisfaction in the sight of God and that he might perceiue sensibly that all that came to him by her meanes he would take that for a most certaine and infallible token that whatsoeuer she had done was the worke of God and not of Satan transfiguring him selfe into an Angel of light And this trial liked him verie well bicause being learned in the studie of diuinitie he knewe that the deuel could not possibly be the authour of true Contrition
reuerend full of maiestie And for a litle tyme he sawe that face only and could see none other thing which put him in such a feare and terrour that casting vp his handes aboue his shoulders he cried with a lowd voice and said Oh Lord who is this that looketh thus vpon me It is he said she that is And with that she came againe to her owne fourme These and other the like thinges did doctour Raimundus her ghostlie Father report of his owne experience all which he affirmed to be most certainly true with a verie great and earnest protestation THE SECOND PART How the spowse of Christ was made by litle and litle to shewe her selfe to the wordle Chap. 1. AFter that our Sauiour Christ had thus espowsed this holie virgin to him selfe and beawtified her with manie graces and gyftes his will pleasur was that she should from that tyme foreward by litle and litle shewe her selfe to the worlde that the graine that had now lyen hidden in the grownd a conuenient tyme and was sufficiently mortified might bud flower and bring foorth the frute of manie excellent vertues to the comfort of men Wherefore on a tyme when he had shewed her many mysteries of the kingdome of heauen and had taught her also to saie the Psalmes and Canonical howers with him selfe as is declared before he bad her that she should goe downe to eate with others and then returne to him againe When she heard that she sobbed and wept fell downe at his feete after a verie pitiful maner and said vnto him O most sweet Iesu whie wilt thou put me awaie from thee If I haue offended thy diuine Maiestie behold here my bodie at thy feete laie what penance it shall please thee vpon it and I will helpe with all my hart Only this I beseech thee let me not be so sharply punished as to be sundred from thy blessed presence What haue I to doe with their meates I haue meate to eate that they knowe not of Oh my good Lord wherefore dost thou will me to goe to eate with them Doth man liue of bread only and not rather and better of euerie word that cometh out of thy mouth Art not thou he my deere Lord that hast cawsed me to eschewe the conuersation of men that I might the better conuerse with thee And now that I haue fownd thee without anie desert on my part only of thy mere liberalitie and goodnes shall I be so vnhappie as to forsake such a goodlie treasure for to returne to the conuersation of men and so to dymme the puritie and cleerenes of my faith Suffer not that O my deere spowse and Lord for thyne infinitie goodnes When she had thus powred out her hart before our Lord pitifully sobbing and weeping and lying prostrate at his feete he like a merciful Lord gaue her verie sweet wordes againe and said My deere daughter leaue the care of thy selfe to me It is meete that thou doe fulfill all righteousnes Which thou canst not doe vnlesse thou be fruteful and profitable not only to thy selfe but also to others Thinke not my good daughter that it is my meanyng to separate thee from me but rather to vnite thy hart more firmely vnto me Knowest thou not that all the lawe and prophetes stand of two pointes to witt of the loue of God and of the loue of thy neighbour Wherefore to make thee perfecte my will is that thou exercise thy selfe in the loue of thy neighbour with great compassion and mercie that thou maiest flie vp to heauen not with one wing but with two Call to mynd the zeale that thou haddest of winning sowles which I planted in thy hart euen in thyne infancie at what tyme thou haddest a desire to change thyne habite and to clad thy selfe like a man that thou mightest be receiued into the order of the Fryars Preachers Remember that this habite which thou wearest is the habite of thy father S. Dominicke and was geuen vnto thee by my deere mother namely for a special loue and affection that thou barest vnto him for the great trauaile that he susteined in wynning of sowles Behold I doe now dispose and ordaine thee to that end that thou diddest through my secret inspiration so much desire in thy yowth I dispose thee to that function that my Father disposed me vnto in the earth I ordaine thee to that ministerie that I ordained my beloued Apostles and disciples vnto before I departed from them on the earth And all this I doe for thy further merite and greater crowne At these wordes the humble virgin tooke great comfort and bowing downe her head with all submission said O Lord thy will be done in all thinges and not myne for thou art light and I am darckenes thou art he that is and I am she that is not But yet I beseech thee my Lord God let me be so bold as to aske how I a wretched vile woman should be able to doe anie good in thy Church How shall I being a simple womā be able to instructe wise and learned men How shall it be seemelie for me to liue and conuerse emong men Vnto that our Sauiour answered and said Who is he that created man made a distinctiō betweene man womā was it not I If I thē be the creatour of man womā what lawe maie restraine me that I shall not doe with my creatures what I shall thinke good Can my power be limited that I shall not dispose of man and woman of learned and vnlearned of noble and base according to my will Touching thy question therefore which is how a woman that is the weaker vessel should be an able and sufficient meane to edifie men with doctrine and example bicause I knowe that this thy demaund proceedeth not of anie lacke of faith in my almightie power but only of an humble consideration of thyne owne weakenes and frailtie I will impart vnto thee my secret in this behalfe Daughter it is so that now a daies there aboundeth such pride in the worlde and specially in those that hold them selues for learned and wise that my iustice can no lōger beare it But bicause my mercie is aboue all my workes as I haue determined to doe iustice vpon this heinous synne so haue I also prouided a soueraigne medicine against the same to as manie as will accept it The proper medicine and punishment of pride is to be confownded and brought to shame And therefore my deliberation is that these men that are wise in their owne conceite shal be made ashamed and controlled in their owne iudgemēt when they shall see those creatures that they account vile and abiecte as fraile and weake women to vnderstand the hidden mysteries of God not by humane studie but only by grace infused and to shewe the same to the worlde both by word and example of life and for confirmation of such doctrine to worke manie strange signes wonders and miracles
and yealding a meruelous beawtiful light in proportion and quaÌ„titie answerable to the measure of her bodie and putting the same vpon her with his owne handes said This garment I geue thee for all the tyme that thou shalt liue here vpon the earth in token and pleadge of that immortal garment that thou shalt receiue at my handes in heauen And with these wordes that vision ceased and left her endewed with such a strange grace and qualitie not only in sowle but also in bodie that from that verie instant that our Lord spake vnto her she neuer felt alteration in her bodie but continued euermore in one temper whether it were winter or somer hote or cold wind or raine And whatsoeuer wether came she neuer ware moe or fewer clothes then one only single peticote vnderneth and one only single kirtel aboue and that rather for decencie then for necessitie Of two euident miracles which our Lord wrought to declare how accceptable her workes of Charitie were to him Chap. 8. THere was in the citie of Sienna a certaine poore man that had dispossessed him selfe of all his worldlie goods for Gods sake and was in great distresse for lacke of necessarie sustenance The which thing when this holie maid vnderstood being moued withal compassion she tooke a lynnen bag the she had and filled the same with egges and caried it priuily vnderneth her cote towardes the howse of the said poore man to relieue him withal When she came neere the place were he dwelt seeing a Church there by she entred into it first as her maner was to doe her deuotion Where lifting vp her hart to God in praier and comtemplation she was foorthwith so rauished in spirite that her bodilie senses failing she fell downe with all the waight of her bodie on that side where the bag of egges was There was also in the bag a thymble such as taylours do so we withal which she had forgoten to take out when she put in the egges This thymble was broken in three peeces and the egges remained as whole and as sownd as they were put in notwithstanding that she had lyen vpon them with the burthen of her whole bodie and that for the space of certaine howers It pleased almightie God to work an other verie strange miracle also to the like effecte a thing well knowen and testified by as manie as were in the howse which were to the nomber of twentie persones It happened that the howsehold had dronke out a vessel of wine so lowe that the remnant that was left seemed not good ynough to geue to the poore for her maner was alwaies to geue out the best in almes for Gods sake Where vpon she went to the next vessel and drewe out of that largely for the poore a nomber of daies together and was neuer espied by anie of the howsehold At the length when the other vessel was quite drawen out the Butler also went to the vessel that she had broched and drewe of it for the whole howse The howsehold drancke as they were wont to doe sufficiently and she gaue out as her maner was plentifully And yet the wine neuer decreased nether in quantitie nor qualitie but kept euermore at one staie both for fulnes and for freshnes All the howse had great wonder how the vessel should continue so long and withal so good For they all knewe that such a vessel was wont to serue the howse but only xv or at the vttermost xx daies And this had continued a ful moneth and yet to all their seemyng was neither the lesse in measure nor worse in tast but rather they all confessed that in their whole life tyme they had neuer tasted a better wine But that holie maid made no wonder of it for she vnderstood that it was the worke of God whose propertie it is to blesse multiplie the substance of those that are readie to geue to the poore for his loue One moneth was fully expired an other was well entred yet the wine continued still as good and as fresh as it was the first daie that it was broached At the length when the tyme was come that the grapes were ripe and readie to the presse to make newe wyne he that had the chiefe charge about the making of the same tooke order that this vessel which had continued so long with old wine should be emptied that it might be filled with newe wine Whereupon one of the seruantes which thought of all likelyhood that there had ben litle or nothing left in the vessel went about to drawe it out into bottels After the which maner when he had drawen a good deale he sawe still that it ran with full tap At the last they resolued to gawge the vessel and so to see what was in it The which they did and behold they fownd the vessel so drie as if it had stood without licour for the space of manie monethes before Whereat the whole household was meruelously astoined in so much that they had no greater wonder before to see the cleere colour freshnes and long continuance of the wine then they had now to see so sodaine an alteration and fayling of the same Of a passing great charitie and diligence which she vsed in attending vpon a sicke woman and of her inuincible patience in bearing the waiwardnes of the same woman Chap. 9. AS this holie maid had a passing great desire to relieue the poore in their distresse and extremitie so had she also a meruelous tender care and compassion ouer them that were sicke and diseased Concernyng the which vertue she left manie wonderful examples to the wordle emong others this was one There was in the citie of Sienna a poore widowe called â—ecca who for lacke of necessarie attendance and sustentation in her owne howse being verie weake and feeble was constreined to craue the ordinarie charitie of an hospital that was there by Where she was charitably receiued but the hospital was so poore that they were not able to make her allowance of such thinges and seruices as her disease required and so her maladie increasing daily more and more at the length she became disfigured with a verie fowle leprie all ouer her bodie Which made her so lothsome to all that were in the hospital that they eschewed her and there was none fownd that would serue her anie longer Wherupon they determined to send her to a spittle-house that was ordained for such Lazarous folkes about a mile from the citie But before she was remoued it pleased God that this holie maid should haue vnderstanding of their determination Who being inwardly moued with pitie went foorthwith to the hospital where she laie and serued her both with her bodie and with her goods mornyng and euenyng prouiding for her whatsoeuer she thought necessarie or requisite for a woman in that case and dressing the same for her with her owne handes And all this she did with as diligent a care and
great reuerence as if she had ben her owne mother Which charitable and humble seruice the sicke woman tooke in verie good part at the first and thought her selfe much beholding vnto her for it But afterwardes when she sawe that the holie maid continued her diligent attendance with such regard and loue as no seruant would haue done the like like a prowd and vnthankeful woman she tooke all that she did to be more then duetiful and looked for it In so much that if anie thing were done otherwise then her pleasure was to haue it done she would chide with her and reuile her and speake such wordes of villanie and reproch vnto her as no honest woman would haue spoken the like to her bondwoman or slaue that she had bought with her money If it happened as it did sometymes that she taried at Church about her deuotions longer then her accustomed maner was the waiward sicke woman would receiue her at her returne with verie sharp and despiteful termes saying Ah ladie queene yee are welcome Where hath ladie queene ben so long It seemeth that the queene can neuer haue her fill of these Fryars These and other the like wordes would the old woman powre out against her with great stomacke and choler But the holie maid gaue her not one euel word to answere but went about her busines diligently and when she sawe her tyme she would speake to her after a gentle and lowlie maner saying Good mother for Gods loue haue patience And if anie thing be amisse it shal be amended by and by And with that she bestirred her selfe about that she had to doe for her with all possible diligence and made a fyer and dressed her meate and serued her of all necessaries after such humble sort and with such sweete wordes that the impatient woman that was so caried awaie with her passions that she seemed rather a raging bedlame then a resonable creature had great wonder of her patience This brawling continued a long tyme and the more the disease increased vpon the old woman the more wayward and tedious she waxed and yet was this holie maid neuer weerie of her lothsome seruice but held out still and did all that was to be done about her with great loue and reuerence At the length her mother Lapa who had a great misliking of that kind of seruice cried out vpon her and said Daughter it can not be but that if thou continue in this maner of seruice thou must needes in tyme become a leaper which thou knowest I maie not abide to see And therefore I charge thee in anie case to geue it ouer Whereunto she made answere verie discreetely and said Good mother haue you no feare or doubt of that for the seruice that I do about this sicke woman is done by the commaundement of God And thinke yee not that he will laie so fowle a plague vpon me for that that him selfe hath willed me to doe And so with such wordes she quieted the mynd of her mother But our Lord whose pleasure it is to trie his faithful seruantes to the vttermost permitted in deed the enemie of mankind to haue such power ouer her bodie that he infected her handes with the leprie in such sort that euerie one that looked vpon her iudged by and by that it came to her by the towching of the contagious bodie of that ould woman Which thing caused manie of them that spake euel of her before to speake worse now Some said this and some said that euerie man might speake his fantasie freely for it seemed that they were not altogether without some good grownd And which was most of all euerie bodie shuned her companie as a woman infected with a contagious disease All which disgrace moued her nothing at all but that she continued her wonted charitie and seruice towardes the sicke woman and tooke no care what became of her owne bodie so long as she might emploie it to the seruice of God That womans sickenes continued manie daies but the holie maid thought them verie fewe by reason of the great loue that she had to our Lord whom she thought she serued in that sicke woman At the length when our Lord had thus sufficiently tried the loue and constancie of his faithful spowse he determined that this her paineful and lothsome seruice should haue an end by the passing of that sicke woman out of this wretched life At the which passage the holie maid stood by her and comforted her with her seruice with good praiers with godlie wordes and exhortations and neuer gaue her ouer vntill the last breath And when the bodie was dead she tooke off the clothes and wasshed it and shrowded it in the winding sheet and so laid it on the beere readie to be caried to the place of burial Where when the Dirige and other diuine seruice was done according to the order of the Church she tooke it off againe and laid it in the graue and couered it with earth with her owne handes That done behold by euident miracle and worke of almightie God her handes which were before fowly disfigured with the leprie were now at that verie instant become not only sownd whole but also much fairer and cleerer then anie other part of her bodie to the sight of as manie as beheld her 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. THe charitie of this holie maid shewed vpon that vnthankeful leperous woman was surely verie great and so was her charitie and patience shewed towardes a sister of her owne Order no lesse great and worthie to be remembred There was emong the sisters of S. Dominickes Order commonly called the sisters of penance one sister namel Palmerina who by reason of certaine workes of charitie that she did outwardly shewed to the worlde to be a merciful woman to others but in deed was vnmerciful both to her selfe others as it maie appeere by that that shal be here recited This Palmerina bare such a deepe malice and hatred in her hart against the holie maid that it was a great paine to her not only to see or speak to her but also to heare her named or spoken of by others In so much that whensoeuer mention was made of her she could not hold her selfe but that she must needes breake out into reprochful wordes into backbiting slawndering yea sometymes to plaine curssing and banning Whē this holie maid vnderstood that she bare her selfe cōtrariwise verie lowlie and louingly towardes her and did what in her laie to wynne her loue with gentle behauiour sweet wordes But the more hūble she shewed her self ready to please the more did the proud woman despise her and set her at naught The which when she sawe taking the disease of that womans mynd to be incurable by ought that man could doe therfore resoluing
to leese no more tyme about her she turned her selfe to God who only is the phisitiō in such desperate cases besought him most instantly that he would take mercie on her sister molifie her hart This praier was made with such feruour vehemēcie of spirite that it perced the heauens and sownded into the eares of almighty God who to cure that froward womā finally of her synful disease of mynd smote her mercifully with a certaine grieuous infirmity of bodie Whē the holy maid heard tell that Palmerina was so dāgerously sicke she was a heauie womā for her For she sawe that if she should depart the worlde in that state her soule was lost euerlastingly Which consideratiō wrought so in her that she determined to leaue nothing vndone that might possibly be done for the recouerie of that sowle And so she went to her and with verie sweet and louelie wordes offred both her selfe all that she had to be at her deuotion and seruice But the churlish woman was so maliciously bent against her that she not only refused al this courtesie but also reuiled her vsing most vnseemelie and reprochful lāguage against her and in the end bad her goe out of her chāber with great threates thundering wordes All which vilanie the holy maid bare with great meekenes patiēce and continuyng her wonted charitie and cōpassion towardes that furious womā turned her selfe to God againe in praier In this meane tyme that wretched womans sickenes by the diuine prouidence and disposition of God increased so vehemently vpon her that without making anie reconciliation with God or the wordle she drewe on verie fast to death both of bodie soule The which thing when the holie maid vnderstood her hart being thoroughly perced with the dartes of compassion she shut her selfe vp in her Cell and there casting her selfe downe prostrate vpon the grownd with much sobbing weeping and lamentation she made her praier vnto God after this maner O Lord my God Maker maie it be that I wretched creature shold be borne into the worlde to this end that sowles which thou hast created to thine owne ymage likenes should by anie occasion of me be condemned to euerlasting paines Canst thou my good Lord and deere spowse suffer that I which ought to be to my sister an instrument of euerlasting saluation should now become an occasion of her euerlasting woe and calamitie Turne awaie that dreadful iudgement O Lord I beseech thee for thy mercies sake It had ben better for me that I had neuer ben borne then that the sowles which thou hast redeemed with the price of thy most precious blood should through me be brought againe into that miserable captiuitie of our auncient enemie the Deuel O Lord are these the promises which thou madest vnto me when thou diddest saie that I should be an instrument and meane to wynne manie sowles to thee Are these the fruites of life which I thyne vnworthie hand-maid should bring foorth to the behoofe of others There is no doubt O Lord but that my synne is the cawse of all this out of the which I can not looke to receiue anie better fruite then this is But yet O Lord I am right well assured that the botomles sea of thy mercies can not be drayned or in anie part diminished and therefore I set my selfe here before thee with a great affiance and humbly beseech thee that thou wilt vowchsafe to cast downe the eyes of thy clemencie vpon this wretched creature thy seruant my sister This I most instantly craue of thee o most sweet comforter of all afflicted hartes not trusting in anie worke or merite of myne owne but only in thy wonted mercie and goodnes These and other the like wordes did the holie virgin vse in her praier as she declared afterwardes to her ghostly Father which she powred out before God rather with feruour of desire and inward affection then with outward noyse and sownd of voice And our Lord to moue her to further compassion and to make her yet more earnest in praier gaue her to vnderstand and see the euident and imminent peril that her wretched sister was in and she heard it pronownced in plaine termes that the iustice of God could not beare but that such an obstinate malice and hardnes of hart must needes be punished The which horible sentence geuen vpon her sister Palmerina whose sowles health she tendred exceedingly strooke her to the verie hart so mightily that she fell downe to the grownd againe and there lying prostrate groned vnto almightie God after a most lamentable sort saying O Lord God almightie Father of mercies and onlie helper in all extremities I am right well contented yea I most humbly craue it at thy hand that thou wilt vowchsafe to laie all the paine dwe to this wretched womans synnes vpon my backe punish me for them for I am the cause of them and not she Wherefore I most instantly beseeche thee beate me but spare her And with that she raised vp her hart to God with a greater affiance and said furthermore O merciful Lord I will neuer rise out of this place vntill thou shewe mercie to my sister Wherefore I here groane and crie vnto thee O lord euen from the verie botome of myne hart beseeching thee by thyne vnspeakable goodnes by thine infinite mercie and by the price of thy most precious blood shed for the redēption of mankind that thou wilt not suffer my sisters soule to depart out of her bodie vntill the tyme that thou haue graunted her the grace of due penance and contrition for all her synnes Thus did the holie maid make intercession to almighty God for the recouery of her sisters soule her praier was as the euent shewed of meruelous great force vertu For the sicke womā laie in extremes three daies and three nightes drawing on continually in such sort that as manie as were presēt looked euerie hower whē she should passe out of this wordle for they all saw that she was staied in that paineful state of life not by any strength of nature but by some secret extraordinarie power All the which tyme the deuout virgin cōtinued in most earnest feruēt praiers for her and neuer gaue ouer vntil she had with her teares and humilitie as it were wrested the sword of Gods iustice out of his almightie hand and obteined for that wretched woman so much mercie grace that she might first see the deformitie of her synnes then vnderstand the dreadful decree of Gods iustice against her for the same last of all be hartily sorie repentant for her life past with a sure hope of forgiuenes by the mercy of God through the merites of the most precious blood death of our Sauiour Christ This blessed alteratiō was reuealed by God to the holie maid also who vpon the vnderstanding of the same went foorthwith to her sicke sisters chamber to comfort her Whether when
therefore lesse circumspecte in such matters and so to make his entrie vpon them both together He began to sowe in the hart of the sicke woman diuerse and sundrie surmises against her by craftie meanes bringing her in great gelowsie and disliking of all that she did by reason wherof in processe of tyme she waxed meruelous weerie of her and might not well abide to see her Which weerisomenes increasing in her daily more and more engendred a certaine malice and malice in tyme bred a plaine hatred Now this malice and hatred had in continuance by litle and litle so corrupted her iudgement that she not only suspected of her the worst that anie euel mynd could ymagin but also bleleeued firmely that all such ymaginations were most certaine and vndoubted truthes in so much that whensoeuer the holie maid was anie where out of her sight she beleeued assuredly that she was about some fowle acte of fleshlie pleasure The which thing though the innocent virgin vnderstood verie well yet did she shewe her selfe no lesse louing meke seruiceable about her then she was wont to be before But the more meekenes and diligence the good seruant of Christ vsed towardes that froward old woman the more testie and cholericke waxed she against her by the instigation of the deuel in so much that at the length she came to that that she would no longer keepe her conceiued suspicions vnder the couert of priuate gelowsie but without all modestie shame gaue them out in plaine and brode termes to as manie as would geue eare to her slawnderous talke This fowle brute being once thus raised it went on from one to another vntil in the end it came to the eares of the sisters who to vnderstād the verie original of the rumour went to the chamber where the sicke sister laie and examined her of the matter She auowched stowtely to them so much as she had reported to others before and accused the maid constantly of actual incontinēcie vncleannes Whereat they were verie much astoined at the first but yet wheighing the age behauiour constācie of the accuser they gaue credit to her wordes thereupon calling the maid before them they gaue her verie rough and sharpe language rebuking her with meruelous vile and reprochful wordes and asking her how she was caried awaie and brought to commit such a synful and vncleane acte Wherunto she made answere with great humilitie and patience saying no moe wordes but only these Truly good mothers and sisters by the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ I am a maid And whatsoeuer they said to her she gaue them none other word to answere but only this Truly I am a maid Truly I am a maid neuer vtterring so much as one word that might seeme to touch her accuser Vpon whom she attended and serued with as great loue and diligence as if there had neuer passed anie such matter betweene them And yet was she sorie at the verie hart for the slaunder and infamie that was raised vpon her Wherefore when she had done what was to be done about the sicke woman she retired her selfe for comfort as her maner was in all aduersites into her chamber and there casting her selfe downe prostrate vpon the ground she opened the griefe of her hart to almightie God more with gronyng of hart then with sound of voice after this maner O almightie God my deere Lord spowse thou knowest verie well what a tender thing the good name of virgins is especially of them that haue vowed their virginitie to thee and how much subiecte they are to the violent strokes of slawnderous tonges And that was the cause why thy prouident wisedome disposed that thy most glorious mother should be committed to the charge of Ioseph who was called and was in deed her husband not for anie acte of matrimonie but to keepe her name of virginitie from slander Thou knowest O Lord that all this slawnder that is raised vpō me is wrought by the father of lying who hath done this to withdrawe hinder me from this charitable woorke that thou hast appointed me to doe I haue willingly takē vpon me for thy loue Wherefor I most hūbly beseech thee O my deere Lord most mightie protectour of all innocentes that thou wilt not suffer this wicked serpent whom thou hast troden vnder foote in the tyme of thy sacred passion to haue the mastrie ouer me When the holie maid had thus made a long praier to our Lord with much inward gronyng and plentie of teares behold our Lord appeered to her holding two crownes in his hādes one in his right hand of gold all decked with ritch perles and precious stones an other in his left hand of verie sharpe thornes said these wordes vnto her Deere daughter it is so that thou must needes be crowned with these two crownes at sundry tymes Choose therefor whether thou haue lieffer to be crowned with the sharpe crowne of thorne in this life and that other to be reserued for thee in the life to come or elswhether thou like better to haue this goodlie golden crowne in this life that other sharpe crowne in the life to come To this demand the hūble discrete virgin made answere after this maner Lord said she thou knowest verie well that I haue resigned my will wholly to thee haue made a full resolution to doe all thinges according to thy direction and therfore I dare not choose anie thing vnlesse I maie knowe that the same shall stand with thy most blessed will and pleasure Neuertheles because thou hast willed me to make answere concernyng this choise that thou hast here made vnto me I saie thus that I doe choose in this life euermore to be conformed and made like to thee my Lord Sauiour cherefully to beare Crosses thornes for thy loue as thou hast done for myne With that she reached out her handes Iustely and tooke the crowne of thornes of our Lordes handes and put the same vpon her owne head with such a strength and violence that the thornes perced her head rownd about in so much that for a long space after she felt a sensible paine in her head by the pricking of those thornes as she declared afterwardes to her ghostlie Father Then our Lord said to her Daughter all thinges are in my power And as I haue suffred this slawnder to be raised against thee by the deuel and his membres so is it in my power to cease the same when I will Continue thou therefore in that holie seruice that thou hast begon and geue no place to the enemie that would let thee from all good workes I will geue thee a perfecte victorie ouer thyne enemie and will bring to passe that whatsoeuer he hath imagined against thee it shall all be turned vpon his owne head to thy great ioye and his great paine Thus was she well comforted againe and so continued still at the seruice of that
sicke woman In this meane tyme the slaunderous rumour was bruted and came to her mothers eares Who for her selfe made no doubt at all of her daughters innocēcie for she knewe manie thinges that the worlde knewe not and yet she could not but take it verie heauelie when she heard tell that such a slawnder was raised vpon her The griefe wherof so ouercame her mynd that she flang to her daughter with great heat and vehemencie of spirite and began with her after this maner How often tymes haue I told thee that thou shouldest no more serue yonder stinging old croyne See now what reward she geueth thee for all thy good seruice she hath brought vp a foule slaunder vpon thee emong all thy sisters which God knoweth whether thou shalt euer be able to rid thy selfe of so lōg as thou liuest If euer thou serue her againe after this daie or if euer thou come where she is neuer take me for thy mother For I tell thee plaine I will neuer knowe thee for my daughter These and other the like wordes did the mother vtter in great heate choler whereat the daughter at the first was somewhat astoined But after a litle tyme when she had gathered her selfe together she went to her mother and kneeling downe before her with great reuerence she spake these wordes Sweete mother thinke you that our Lord would be pleased with vs if wee should leaue the workes of mercie vndone bicause our neigbour sheweth him selfe vnthankeful towardes vs When our Sauiour Christ hong on the Crosse and heard there the reprochful talke of that vngrateful people rownd about did he in regard of their cruel wordes geueouer the charitable worke of their redemption Good mother you knowe verie well that if I should leaue this old sicke woman she were foorthwith in great danger to perish for lacke of keeping bicause she should not find anie that would come neere her do such seruice as is requisite to be done about a woman in this case And so should I be the occasion of her death She is now a litle deceiued by the ghostlie enemie but she maie hereafter by the grace of God come to acknowledge her fault and be sorie for the same With such wordes she qualified her mothers mynd gate her blessing and so returned againe to the seruice of the sicke woman About whom she did all thinges with great diligence loue neuer shewing neither in wordes nor in countināce so much as anie token of discontētantiō or displeasure In so much that the sicke sister seeing her demeanour was verie much astoined withal ashamed of that she had done and so began to haue great sorrowe at hart and repentance for the slaunder that she had raised vpon her Then also it pleased our Lord to shewe his mercie towardes his faithful spowse to restore her againe to her good fame estimatimatiō after this maner On a daie the holie maide went to the sicke sisters chamber to serue her as she was wont to doe At what tyme as she was comyng towardes her bed where she laie to doe some thing that was to be done about her behold the sicke woman sawe a meruelous goodlie light commyng downe from heauen which filled all her chamber and was so beautifull and comfortable that it made her vtterly to forget all the paines of her disease What that sight might meane she could not conceiue But looking about her here and there she beheld the maidens face gloriously transformed the maiestie wherof was so strang that she seemed to her rather an Angel of heauen then anie earthlie creature And this beautiful light enuironed the holie virgins bodie rownd about The which brightnes the more the old woman beheld the more did she condemne the malice of her owne hart and tongue in that she had conceiued and vttered so fowle matter as she had done against such an excellent and pure creature as the holie maid then shewed to be This vision continued a good tyme and at the length when it ceased left the sicke woman both in sorrowe and also in comfort In sorrowe bicause on the one side she sawe what a heynous synne she had committed in dissamyng that innocent virgin In comfort bicause on the other side she sawe the mercie of God freely and franckely offred vnto her The which thing so mollified her hart that with much sobbing weeping she confessed her fault to the holie maid and besought her of pardon When the good virgin sawe the hūble maner of her repentance and submission she likewise verie amiably tooke the old woman in her armes kissed her and spake very sweet and comfortable wordes vnto her saying Good mother I haue no displeasure in the worlde against you but only against our enemie the Deuel by whose malice suttiltie I knowe all this is wrought but rather I haue to thanke you with all my hart for you haue put me in mynd to haue a more careful and vigilant regard to my selfe and so doing you haue turned the malicious drifte of the feend to my further good and commoditie With such sweet speeches she comforted the sicke sister and then she set her selfe to doe all such seruices as were wont to be done about her And when she had done all she tooke her leaue verie gently as her maner was and so retired her selfe to her chamber to geue God thankes so the prosperous successe that she had had in this matter and to enter into her accustomed exercise of praier meditation In this meane tyme the old woman who had a great care to restore the innocent virgin to her good name againe when anie of those came to her before whom she had made that slaunderous report tooke occasion to vnburthen her conscience and confessed openly with great lamentation and teares that whatsoeuer dishonestie she had anie tyme reported by that holie maid she had ben induced to report it by the crafte of the deuel not by anie thing that euer she sawe or knewe in her And therfore she cried them all mercie and besought them for charitie to forgeue her She affirmed furthermore that she was able to make good proofe that the holie maid was not only free from all suspicion of anie vncleannes of bodie but also endued with manie high singular graces of God and that she was in deed a verie pure virgin and a Saincte Thus much said she I speake not vpon heresaie or opinion but vpon verie certaine knoweledge Then certaine of the elder and sadder women talked with her secretly and required to vnderstand what certaine tokens and knowledge of holines she had in the maid Whereupon she declared vnto them so much as hath ben here receited before And said furthermore verie constantly and with great feruour of spirite that in all her life tyme she neuer knewe what true sweetnes of sowle and spiritual comfort meant vntill that tyme when she sawe the holie maid so transfourmed
life manie a one shall take occasion of slaunder and offence and thou shalt be gainesaid of manie that the thoughtes of manie hartes maie be opened But in anie case see that thou be nothing afraid or troubled with anie of these thinges For I will be with thee alwaies and will deliuer thee from lying lippes and slaunderous tongues Folowe therfore freely the guydance of my holie spirite and labour diligently in this charitable woorke wherin I haue apointed thee For by thee I haue determined to deliuer manie soules out of the dragons mouth and to bring them to my euerlasting rest in heauen These and other the like wordes spake our Lord to her and repeted the same againe and againe and specially that word where he bad her that she should not be afraid or dismaid Wherunto the holie maid made answere with great humilitie and perfecte obedience saying Thou art my Lord and my God and I thy creature and vnworthy hand maid thy will be done in all thinges Only this O Lord I beseech thee remember me according to the multitude of thy mercies and helpe me And with that the vision ceased and the blessed virgin conferred those comfortable wordes of our Sauiout in her hart easting earnestly with her selfe what that gracious alteration might meane From that tyme foreward the grace of God increased daily in her hart so much the gyftes of the holie Ghost replenished her soule in such aboundant maner that she was her selfe astoined at it and by reason of that passing great increase of spiritual ioye and comfort that she felt in her soule her bodie being not able to beare it waxed feeble faint Her hart was wholly caried vp into God and that with such a vehemēcie and feruour of loue that she could not endure anie tyme without thinking and meditating vpon his most noble workes and endles mercies towardes her selfe and all mankind The force of the which loue so ouercame the natural powers of her bodie that she languished and decaied in strength and could find none other remedie for that sickenes but only to runne vnto God with an amorous affection and to powre out her hart befor him with great aboundance of teares and so to renewe her selfe as it were in the forge and fyer of loue At the length it pleased our Lord to geue her to vnderstand by the secret instincte of his holie spirite that the most soueraigne medicine for that disease was often tymes to receiue the blessed Sacrament of the aulter Where she should haue the ioyful fruition of her loue not in such sort as she should haue it afterwardes in the blesse of heauen but yet so as that she should find her selfe satisfied in some dergree for the tyme Now after that she had vsed for a certaine tyme to comunicate euerie daie as she did vnlesse she were letted by sickenes or by some other necessarie occasion she had at the length such a passing great longing and as it were an impatient desire to receiue the blessed Sacrament that if she were enforced by anie such vrgēt necessitie to abstaine but only one daie it seemed that her body fainted sēsibly failed forsomuch as being now fully accorded with the soule it had abādoned the natural powers senses and so receiued nourishment and sustentation not of the meates that the bodie is wont to be fed withal which did her more harme then good but of the foode of the soule which is the grace of God which grace was so abōdant in her soule that it redounded into her bodie and by miracle tempered that wasting heat that is wont to consume the radical moisture Her ghostlie Father examinyng her vpon this point asked whether she had euer anie appetite to eate or no. Wherunto she made answere that she was fully satisfied with the holy Sacrament and had none other appetite Then he asked her yet further in case by occasion she absteined from receiuing the blessed Sacrament whether she were then hungrie or no. To that likewise she answered and said that the only presence of the Sacrament did satisfie her and not only the Sacrament but the priest also that had touched the Sacrament did satifie and comfort her in such sort that she could not so much as thinke of anie other meate And in deed it was well knowen to as manie as liued with her from the begynnyng of Lent vntill the Ascension daie she continued in verie good liking without receiuing anie maner of bodily food or sustenance in the worlde And vpon that daie by commaundement of God she tooke only a litle bread and a fewe herbes for her stomake might not brooke anie deintie or fine meates After that she obserued a simple maner of fasting for a tyme vntill at the length by litle and litle she came againe to her old maner of abstinence which was to eate nothing at all And so she passed ouer her life in a continual and euident miracle verifying that saying of the holie Scripture that man liueth not only by bread but by euerie word that cometh out of our Lordes mowth Her ghostlie Father testified that he sawe her him selfe and that not once or twise but often tymes when continuyng after this sort without anie maner of sustenance vnlesse it were a litle water she became so weake that as manie as were about her looked euerie hower when she would geue vp the ghost At what tyme if occasion were ministred to wynne a sowle to God or to doe anie other charitable worke to the honour of God they all sawe to their great astonishment that she was sodainly altered in the state of her bodie in such sort that she was able to rise and goe without anie token of weakenes or weerines and also to endure great labour in doing that good worke that she tooke in hand for Gods sake And those that went with her hauing their perfecte health and strength could hardly folowe her here there but that they must needes be more weerie then she shewed to be Which made them all to confesse that it was the almightie power of God that susteined her and not anie naturall force How she was molested by diuerse and sundrie persones disswading her from her streight Abstinence and how she ouercame her ghostlie Father by reason Chap. 13. THis streight and vnwonted maner of Abstinence was to the holie maid an occasion of great vnquietnes and trouble both by them that liued with her in howse and also by others who seeing the order of her conuersation to be so farre aboue the common course of mans life perswaded them selues and trauailed much to perswade her also that it was not the gracious gyfte of God but only a suttle deceite tentation of the Deuel With this errour were a great nōber caried awaie emong others her owne ghostly Father who imagining all this to be nothing els but only a craftie illusiō of Satan transforming him selfe into an Angel of light commaunded her
might be deceiued by the enemie whose crafte in deed is verie suttle yet would I faine learne of them who it was that kept her bodie so long tyme in her natural force and strength If they answere and saie that it was the Deuell then will I aske them againe who that was that preserued her sowle in such spirituall ioye and peace especially at that tyme when she was depriued of all outward delite and comfort This inward comfort and peace is vndoubtedly the fruite of the holie Ghost and maie in no wise be ascribed to the Deuel Last of all to come to them that of a wicked malice slaundered the blessed virgin of hypocrisie and vaine glorie I thinke it not so expedient to shape them an answere as to geue them good counsel I would wish all such to be better aduised what they speake against Gods seruantes and what iudgement they geue concernyng the wonderfull workes of God in his Sainctes For they shal receiue their iudgement for all such rash and slaunderous talke at the later daie before the iudgement seate of God and all this Sainctes How she shewed her selfe meruelous seuere and rigorous towardes her selfe and contrariwise wonderful gentle and meeke towardes them that slaundered her which she did to wynne then to God Chap. 15. WHen anie il disposed persones spake their pleasure of her slaundering and deprauing that vnwonted maner of Absteinence which they sawe in her she would answere then not with anie vehemencie of wordes but only simply and with such a moderation of speech as she thought most meete to qualifie and ouercome such hard hartes for sooth said she it is true that our Lord susteineth my life without bodily food and yet see I no cause whie you should be offended For in truth I would eate with a good will if I could But almightie God hath for my synnes laid this strange infirmitie vpon me that if I eate I am foorthwith in peril of death praie therfore to God for me that he will vouchsafe to forgeue me my synnes which are to me the verie cause of this and all other euels By such sweet wordes she hoped well to haue staied those malicious tonges But when she sawe that she preuailed not of verie pitie that she had of those weake myndes and to take awaie all occasion and coulour of offence she came to the table with others and did enforce her selfe to eate somewhat but in so doing suffred such intolerable paines that as manie as sawe it had great compassion on her For her stomake had vtterly lost the vertu of digestion by reason wherof the meate that she eate either she cast it vp againe and that was oftentymes procured by putting a fether into her throte or otherwise violently or els it remained in her stomake vndigested and there engendred windinnes colikes and other passions which tormented her verie cruelly and neuer ceased vntill she had brought it vp by one meane or other The which thing her ghostlie Father seeing and considering that she suffred all such paines only to stoppe the course of slaunderous tongues for verie inward compassion that he had of her great tormentes he spake comfortably vnto her and willed her on Gods name that she should rather leaue eating then to suffer such paines how soeuer they tooke it and whatsoeuer slaunders they raised vpon her Wherunto she made answere with a smyling countenance saying Father how thinke you Is it not better for me to discharge the debt of my synnes after this maner in this present life then to differre the payment of the same in farre greater paines to the life to come would you that I should flee Gods Iustice or rather to speake more to the purpose that I should not accepte this goodlie occasion that is offred me here to satisfie Gods Iustice with such temporal paines Surely Father I take it for a great grace and benefite of God that he will vouchsafe thus to chastice me here for my synnes and not reserue the same to be punished in the other life To this her ghostlie Father could saie nothing and therfore he held his peace And so by this meane she gaue a great example of high perfection to all men she ouercame the Deuel which had wrought all this trouble against her she stopped the mouthes of diuerse and sundrie malicious persones and prepared for her selfe a double crowne in the life to come On a tyme reasonyng with her ghostlie Father concerning the gyftes and graces of God she vttered a verie notable lesson which was this If man said she knewe how to vse the grace of God he should make his gaine and commoditie of euerie thing that happeneth vnto him in this life And so would I wish that you should doe good Father Whensoeuer anie thing hapeneth vnto you thinke with your selfe and saie thus God geue me his grace to wynne somewhat of this towardes my soules health And then doe your endeuour to gaine such and such vertues as that present matter shall minister occasion and within a litle tyme yee shall become verie ritch How our Sauiour tooke her hart out of her bodie and after a certaine of daies gaue her a newe for it Chap. 16. THe familiaritie that our Lord had with this blessed virgin was so strange the gracious priuileges that he endued her withal so singular that they gaue at that tyme may peraduēture geue now also occasiō of laughter to manie wordlie persones and to such as are in anie degree fallen from that simplicitie that is as the Apostles saieth and ought to be in Christ And yet are not the wonderfull workes of God therfore to be concealed from the vnfaithful but rather to be set out for the behoofe of the godlie well disposed For as almightie God doth from tyme to tyme worke such great wonders in his sainctes so doth he also frō tyme to time prepare some good hartes that wil receiue the same with a simple reuerence true Christian regard On a time while this holy maid was lifting vp her hart to God in praier with great feruour of spirite and saying those wordes of the prophet Dauid O God create in me a cleane hart and renue a right spirite in my bowels she made a special petition to him that he would vouchsafe to take awaie her owne hart and will and geue her an other newe hart and will that were wholly according to his holie will As she was so praying with great humilitie and instance behold our Sauiour Christ appeered to her after a verie comfortable maner and came to her and opened her lefte side sensibly with this hand and tooke out her hart and so going his waie lefte her in deed without a hart Afterwardes being in talke with her ghostlie Father emong other thinges she said to him that she had no hart in her bodie When her Confesseur heard those wordes he laughed at her and began after a sort to rebuke her for so saying
But she affirmed constantly that so it was and for confirmation of the same declared how our Sauiour had taken it out with his owne hand All the which talke perswaded him nothing at all How is it possible said he that anie man should liue without a hart yee saie truly Father said she vnto man it is in deed impossible but vnto God there is nothing impossible Within a fewe daies after this it chaunced her to goe to a certaine Chapple of the Friars preachers where the sisters of penance were wont to kneele And when they were all gone home she continued there in praier wherin lifting vp her hart to God with great feruour and deuotion she was rauished in spirite as her common maner was That done she set her selfe in the waie to goe homeward And as she went behold a goodlie light from heauen enuironed her round about and in that light appeered our Sauiour Christ holding in his handes a redde shinyng hart At the sodaine sight wherof she was so afraid that she fell downe to the ground all quaking and trembling Then came our Lord vnto her and openyng her side put the hart that he held in his hand into her bodie and said these wordes Loe deere daughter as I did this other daie take awaie thy hart so do I now in steed of that geue thee my hart with the which thou shalt liue euerlastingly When he had so done he closed vp the wound againe that was made in her bodie and went his waie Howbeit he did it in such sort that there remained euer afterwardes a certaine marke or scarre as it were of a wound healed as she declared oftentymes to her ghostly Father and manie of her sisters sawe it with their eyes From that tyme foreward she altered the maner of her praier and said not as she was wont to doe before Lord I beseech thee keepe my hart but Lord I beseech thee keepe thy hart Of diuerse and sundrie visions which she had at the sight and receiuing of the blessed Sacrament and how she felt her selfe wonderfully altered after the receite of that newe hart Chap. 17. AFter that she had receiued this newe hart she increased meruelously in high and heauenlie contemplations especially when she was occupied in praier about the Aulter from whence she neuer parted without some verie strange visions and illuminations namely when she receiued the blessed Sacrament Manie tymes she sawe our Sauiour Christ betweene the priestes handes in the forme of a litle sucking babe sometymes she sawe him like a pretie stripling and sometymes also like a hote burnyng fornace into the which it seemed to her that the priest did enter when he did communicate Many tymes when she receiued B. Sacramēt she felt such passing sweet sauours that her bodie was almost ouercome with the sweetnes of the same And generally whensoeuer she did either see or receiue the holie Sacrament she receiued withal such aboundance of newe ioyes and vnspeakeable comfortes that manie tymes her hart daunced in her bodie and made such a sensible noyse that it might well be heard of them that stood by And it was well perceiued that the noyse was not natural such as other mens bodies are wont to make but it was altogether strange and aboue the common course of nature In this inward and spiritual Iubile that she felt in her selfe she would breake out sometymes speake to her ghostlie Father after this maner O Father see you not that I am not now the same woman that I was before O that you could feele that I do now feele in my hart Surely surely Father there is no man in this worlde so proud or so hard harted that would not relent and become humble if he felt what I feele And yet is that that I tell you nothing in comparison of that that I feele inwardly There is such a great fyer of Gods loue enkendled in my hart that this external and material fyer being compared with that seemeth rather cold then hote I am so replenished with inward ioye and gladnes that I can but meruaile how my soule maie abide in this wretched bodie This hote burnyng fyer doth so purifie renewe my soule in innocencie and cleannes that me thinketh I am come againe to the age of fiue yeares This diuine fyer doth so inflame me with the loue of my neighbour that it were the greatest ioye in the wordle to me to die for anie man that liueth in the wordle These thinges did she declare to her ghostlie Father to the glorie of God and to the behoofe of the worlde that we might vnderstand and see the vnspeakeable loue of almightie God towardes man and what wonderful effectes the holie Ghost bringeth foorth in flexible and ployant hartes to moue vs that be dull of spirite to the keeping of his holie commaundementes in hope of the comfortable rewardes that we are to receiue at Gods hand not only in the life to come but also in this present life How our Lord reueled manie high misteries to the holie maid and how Marie Magdalen was assigned to her to be her mother Chap. 18. AFter that this holie maid was thus replenished with such great abondance of verie singular graces and gyftes it pleased almightie God to reuele vnto her diuerse and sundrie high mysteries of the which this was one On a tyme our Lord appeered to her to comfort her in her holie purpose accompanied with our blessed Ladie and S. Marie Magdalen and asked her this question Daughter said he what thing desirest thou Wherunto she made answere and said Lord thou knowest better then I what thing is most behoueful for me And of my selfe thou knowest I haue no will nor hart but only thy will and thy hart As she was speaking those wordes it came to her mynd how Marie Magdalen committed her selfe wholly to our Lord when she sate and wept at his feete With that she felt the like swetnes in her hart as Marie Magdalen felt at what tyme she wept at our Lordes feete whereupon she fixed her eyes vpon her Our Lord seeing that and withal looking to the inward bent of her mynd to satisfie her godlie desire said these wordes vnto her Behold deere daughter from this time foreward I geue thee Marie Magdalen to be thy mother to whom as to a louing mother thou maiest at al times flee for special cōfort for vnto her specially haue I committed the gouernemēt of thee When she heard that she gaue our Lord most humble thankes turnyng her selfe to Marie Magdalen with great humilitie and reuerence she besought her that she would vowchsafe so to take her vnder her motherlie protection And from that tyme foreward Marie Magdalen acknowledged the holie maid for her daughter and she tooke her euermore for her mother which thing maie seeme to be done not without great mysterie if we consider what liknes there was betweene the mother and daughter in the whole state of their life
and conuersation How hangyng in the ayer she sawe certaine secrets and high mysteries of God which it is not lawful to disclose to anie man Chap. 19. THIS holie maid from the tyme that she was thus endued with newe graces vntill the xxxiij yeare of her age at what tyme she departed out of this life was so wholly occupied in diuine comtemplations that in all that tyme she neuer needed anie bodilie sustenance And in those contemplations her soule was so mightely drawen vp to heauenlie thinges that her bodie also was by the vehemencie of the spirite taken vp often tymes withal and suspended in the ayer At which tymes she sawe manie wonderful thinges and spake manie high wordes of heauenlie matters which were heard of diuerse and sundrie persones On a tyme her ghostlie Father seeing her so rauished from her bodilie senses and hearing her speake certaine wordes softely to her selfe came neere to hearken what she said And standing by her he heard her speake these wordes distinctly in latine Vidi arcana Dei that is I haue seene the secrets of God And she repeted the same wordes often tymes Vidi arcana Dei Her ghostlie Father afterwardes being verie desirous to knowe what she meant by those wordes and whie she repeted them so often asked her after this maner Good mother said he I praie you tell me whie you repeated those wordes so often What is the cause whie you will not declare your secrets to me now as you were wont to doe To that she answered and said that she might not speake otherwise whie so said he whie maie you not declare the thinges that our Lord reuealeth vnto you as well now as you were wont to doe Good Father said she I should haue as great a conscience if I should declare the high misteries that almightie God hath now reueled vnto me with my defectuous and imperfecte tongue as I should haue if I had blasphemed or dishonoured our Lord in wordes For there is so great difference betweene heauenly thinges apprehended in an vnderstanding that is illuminated by God and the same thinges vttered by the speach or tongue of man that me thinketh they are almost contrarie the one to the other And therefore for this tyme I praie you hold me excused For the thinges that I haue seene are vnspeakeable After this great reuelation that our Lord made to her of vnspeakeable thinges it seemed to her that her hart did leap out of her bodie and that it did enter into the side of our Sauiour Christ and there was made one hart with his hart And at that instant she felt her soule all molton and resolued with the force of his diuine loue in such sort that she cried out with a loude voice often tymes Domine vulnerasti cor meum Domine vulnerasti cor meum Lord thou hast wounded my hart Lord thou hast wounded my hart This thing was done vpon S. Margarets Daie in the yeare of our Lord. 1370. How she put her mouth to the side of our Sauiour and drancke and of manie other wonderful thinges that happened about the blessed Sacrament Chap. 20. IT chaunced also the same yeare on S. Laurence daie that this holie maid comyng to the Church to heare Masse set her selfe downe neere to the Aulter as her maner was that she might the better see the holie Sacrament And kneeling there deuoutly in her praiers she brake out into weeping and sobbing so much that her ghostlie Father came to her warned her that she should refraine so much as was possible for not molesting the priest at Masse Wherupon like a meeke and obedient daughter she remoued her selfe farther from the Aulter and made her humble praier to our Lord that he would vouchsafe to illuminate her Confessours hart that he might see and vnderstand that such violent motions of the spirite might not be witholden and kept in by the strength of man and her priaer was not vaine For it pleased God to make her ghostlie Father to vnderstand perfectly by experience that such feruour of spirite could not be so kept in but that the force of diuine loue would needes breake out The which when he vnderstood he neuer rebuked her afterwardes for anie such matter Now kneeling after this maner farre of from the Aulter she groned in her hart and manie tymes also brake out into wordes and said after a languishing and ruthful maner I would faine receiue the bodie of my Lord and Redeemer I would faine receiue the bodie of my Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ One tyme as she was so so crying behold our Lord appeered vnto her with the wound of his side all open and bringing her mowth to the same said Receiue of my flesh and drincke of my blood so much as thou wilt With that she sucked greedily and tooke so much that it seemed to her that for verie pure loue she was at the point of death by reason of the passing great sweetnes that she felt in her hart The selfe same yeare vpon S. Alexius daie this holie maid made her praier to God that he would vowchsafe to graunt her a feruent and burnyng desire to receiue his most holie bodie and blood At what tyme she vnderstood by reuelation that on the morowe she should receiue without all doubt For she had ben forbiden for certaine respectes that she should not receiue so often When she had that comfortable reuelation she praied againe to our Lord that he would vowchsafe to clense her hart against the tyme of receiuing that she might receiue the more worthily to her greater profite Behold while she was so praying she felt a certaine raigne comyng downe into her soule in maner of a great abondant flood not of water or of anie other such licour but of blood myngled with fyer which as it seemed to her clensed her soule so mightely that the strength and operation of the same redounded into the bodie and clensed it also After this on the morowe she was so extremely sicke that to her seemyng she was not able to moue one foote though the worlde had lyen on it All the which not withstanding she doubted nothing of the promise made vnto her by our Lord but with a ful affiance in him set her selfe in the waie towardes the Church Whither when she was come she kneeled downe in a chappell besides an Aulter and besought almightie God with great instance that her ghostlie Father might come and saie Masse there For she had a special inhibition not to receiue at anie other priestes hand And she vnderstood by reuelation that almightie God had graunted her that petition also Now while she was thus attending there for the performance of all these comfortable promises her ghostlie Father who before found small disposition in him selfe to saie Masse that daie knewe not of her being there was sodainly touched at the hart with a verie strange feruour and deuotiō Wherupon he prepared him selfe to Masse and went
would declare all her vision to him She like an obedient daughter declared vnto him the whole vision in such sort as it is described here before And when she came to that point where she praied for certaine special persones she said to him Father when I praied for you and for other that our Lord would vouchsafe to graunt you euerlasting life it pleased his goodnes to geue me an assured comfort in my hart that in deed so it should be With that I besought him that he would graunt me some token of the certaintie therof not that I doubted anie thing of his promise but bicause I was desirous to haue some notable memorial of the same Then he bad me that I should stretch out my hand And I did so And he put into my hand a naile and closed the same so fast within my hand that I felt a great paine in my hand as if there had ben a naile striken into my hand in deed with an hammer And so our Lord be blessed for it I haue in my right hand one of the markes of my sweet spowse and Sauiour to my selfe sensible though to others inuisible How she receiued the blessed markes of our Sauiour Christ in the citie of Pisa Chap. 22. ON a tyme this holie maid went to the citie of Pisa accompanied with diuerse and sundrie persones emong other doctour Raimundus her ghostlie Father was one When she came thither she was enterteined by a certaine worshipful man whose house stood beside S. Christians chappell where her Confessour said masse at her request and ministred the holie Sacrament vnto her after her accustomed maner When she had receiued she was foorthwith rauished from her bodilie senses for a good space All the which tyme her Confessour with diuerse others a waited there to see what would become of her and to heare some spiritual and comfortable wordes of her as they were wont to doe commonly when she came to her selfe againe Sodainly as they beheld her the bodie that laie prostrate vpon the ground was raised vp and she kneeled vpon her knees strethching vp her armes and handes shewing in her face a meruelous goodlie and cleere brightnes When she had kneeled after this maner a good while at the length she fell downe sodainly like one that had receiued a deadlie wound and soone after that she was restored againe to her bodilie senses Then she caled for her ghostly Father and said secretly vnto him these wordes Father I geue you to vnderstand for certaine that I beare now in my bodie by the grace and mercie of God the blessed markes of my Lord Sauiour Iesus Christ Her Confessour hearing that asked her how that might be and how it had ben with her in all that tyme of her traunse Wherunto she made answere and said Father I sawe our Lord fastened vpon the Crosse comyng downe towardes me and enuironyng me rownd about with a meruelous beawtiful light With the which gracious sight my sowle was so rauished and had such a passing desire to goe and meete with our Lord that my bodie was constreined by the verie force of the spirite to set it selfe vp as you might see Then there came downe from the holes of his blessed woundes fiue bloodie beames which were directed towardes the same partes of my bodie to witte to my handes feete and hart With that I cried out to our Lord and said O Lord I beseech thee let no singes of these holie markes appeere outwardly to the sight of men Sodainly while I was speaking these wordes before those beames were fully come downe to my bodie they chaunged their coulour out of a sanguine red into a meruelous brightnes and so in the fourme of a goodlie pure light they lighted and rested vpon the said partes of my bodie When she had thus declared her whole vision her ghostlie Father asked her whether anie of thoses beames came downe to her right side or no. She answered no but only to her lefte side vpon the hart He asked her furthermore whether she felt anie sensible paine in those partes or no. With that she fetched a great sigh and said Father I suffer such a great and sensible paine in all those fiue partes of my bodie and specially at my hart that vnlesse almightie God shewe a newe miracle I can not long endure in this life That word did her ghostlie Father take verie good head vnto and he looked diligently whether he might espie anie tokens of sensible paine in those partes of her bodie When she had said so much as she would saie at that tyme they went out of that chappell together towardes their lodging and the holie maid betooke her selfe to her chamber and laie downe and shewed such euident tokens of extreme sickenes that as manie as were about her thought certainely that she would haue dyed out of hand Whereupon her Confessour with certaine other that kept him companie were called to see that strange case When they came and sawe her in such extremitie they were all ouercome with sorrowe and heauines for though they had seene her oftentymes before in verie weake case yet had they neuer seene her so feeble to their seemyng so neere to death Neuertheles within a while after she came to her selfe againe and recouered so much strength that receiuing a litle meate she was able to speak and said to hir ghostlie Father as she had said before that vnlesse almightie God would by some newe miracle continue her life she had but a litle tyme to endure in this wordle When her Confessour heard that he called all her spirituall children together both men and women and besought them with manie teares that they would all with one voice offer vp their humble praier to God beseeching him that he would vouchsafe to lend them their mother that laie at the point of death for a tyme to directe and traine them yet further in the pathes of spiritual life They assented all to his request with a verie good will and went with him to the chamber where the holie maid laie in a traunse And doctour Raimundus in the behalfe of them all spake vnto her after this maner Good mother we knowe well that your desire is to be with your deere spowse and Lord our Sauiour Christ But our desire and earnest sute is that you would take pitie on vs your poore children and not leaue vs thus comfortles and without direction Your reward is safely laied vp for you in heauen and abideth your comyng But we are in danger of perishing a thousand waies in this tempestuous sea of the wordle We knowe also good mother that your deere spowse loueth you so tenderly that he will denie you nothing that you aske him Wherfore we beseech you all with one voice to make your humble praier to him that he will vouchsafe to lend you yet a litle tyme of life emong vs for our further instruction in this holie order of life
wherin you haue begun to trade vs. We will praie with you also but what are we seelie wretches and sinful creatures we are vnworthie to appeere before his diuine maiestie beinge as we are full of iniquitie and subiecte to manie imperfections And therefore we praie you deere mother that our sute maie be offred vp to almightie God by you who for the tender loue that you haue alwaies shewed to vs are like to sollicite it more carefully and for the singular fauour that you haue found in his sight are like to obteine it more certainly Manie such wordes spake her Confessour and the rest to her with great heauines of hart which they shewed more with the teares that they shed then with the wordes that they spake When they had said the holie maid made them answer after this maner It is now long as you knowe sence I resigned my selfe wholly vnto God and haue no will of myne owne but do remit all to the direction of his blessed will True it is that I loue you verie entierly and haue a great desire of your saluation And it is no lesse true that he loueth and tendreth you infinitly more then I do or can do and that he thirsteth after your saluation more then I and all men are able to conceiue wherof we haue most sufficient testimonie the shedding of his most precious blood His will therfore be done in this and in all other thinges I wil not cease to praie for you howbeit not otherwise but only that his will be done which I knowe shal be best for you howsoeuer it fall out When she had spoken these wordes they went aside fot a tyme in great heauines and perplexitie vntill the tyme that they might heare some more comfortable answere The next daie after she called her Confessour vnto her and said Father I beleeue our Lord hath somewhat condescended to your petition and I hope you shall vnderstand his will and pleasure touching the same within a short tyme. And as she said so it prooued in deed For vpon the next morowe which was sondaie she receiued the blessed Sacrament at her Confessours hand And as on the sondaie before she was brought to verie great weakenes after the receiuing of the blessed Sacrament so at this tyme she was meruelously refresshed and strengthened in bodie Which seemed strange to as manie as were there present Then doctour Raimundus seeing that wonderful and comfortable alteratiō in her bodie said these wordes I am now in great hope that our Lord hath accepted our teares and that he hath geuen fauorable eare to the humble praiers of vs his vnworthie seruantes With that for their further assurance and comfort he asked the holie maid whether the paine that she was wont to haue in her handes feete and side did continue still as it did before Wherunto she made answere and said that our Sauiour Christ had now so wrought in her bodie that those woundes or markes were no more a griefe and torment vnto her but rather a passing great ioye and sensible comfort and that our Lord at their instance and sute had graunted her a longer tyme of affliction in this life which she was glad of for the loue she bare to them How she was rauished in spirite for the space of three daies and how afterwardes she did penance as long for a word that escaped her vnwares Chap. 23. VPon the feast of S. Pauls conuersion this holie maid was meruelously rauished frō her bodilie senses and her spirite was so mightely drawen vp to heauenward that for the space of three daies three nightes she was vnmoueable and without all bodilie feeling in so much that manie thought verily that she had bin fully dead But there were some that vnderstood her condicion better then the rest who were of opinion that she should be rauished with S. Paul into the third heauen At the lenght when the three daies were ended she came to her selfe againe But her spirite was so comforted with the thinges that had ben reuealed vnto her in that tyme that she stood long tyme after like one that had ben neither fully sleeping nor fully awaked In the meane tyme whil she so stood there came to her doctour Thomas her first Confessour and with him an other Friar called brother Donatus of Florence who were going to visite a certaine holie Heremite in the wildernes And taking this holie maid in their waie and finding her in this case they thought they would proue whether they might awake her fully by inuiting her to doe some worke of charitie And so they asked her whether she would goe with thē to see that holie man Yea said she not knowing in deed at that verie instant what she said For as yet she remained in that sleepie state that she had ben in before But so soone as she perceiued that such a woord had passed her she had such a remorse of conscience bicause she had said otherwise thē she mynded to doe that for verie griese of mynd sorrowe for her offence she awaked altogether as she had ben before three daies three nightes in a deliteful contēplation of heauenly thinges so did she likewise cōtinue three daies three nightes after a verie lamētable maner waling weeping for her synne and said to her selfe O most wicked and peruerse woman hast thou thus requited the infinite goodnes and mercie of thy Lord and Sauiour with making a lie Be these the truthes that thou hast learned in heauen Be these the frutes of the doctrines that the holie Ghost hath inspired in thy hart Thou knewest well when thou spakest those wordes that it was not thy meanyng to goe with them And yet thou wouldest saie yea and make a lie to those good men and vertuous priestes that haue charge of thy soule Ah wretched creature Ah wicked woman These and other the like wordes did she speake with an earnest displeasure against her selfe and did great penance vpon her bodie for the space of three daies and three nightes for that lie that she had made if it maie truly be termed a lie and not rather a word that escaped her vnwares Howsoeuer it was she was permitted by the prouidence of God so to slide and also to haue a timorous remorse for her offence to keepe downe her hart that it should not be puffed vp with pride in regard of those heauenlie reuelations that she had seene Which were so great as she declared afterwardes to her ghostlie Father that no tongue of man was able to expresse them Of certaine other reuelations and againe of the tendernes of her conscience Chap. 24. AT an other tyme the Apostle S. Paul appeered to her and gaue her warnyng that she should geue her selfe earnestly to praier The which warnyng she receiued with verie great obedience and did in deed set her selfe wholy to the exercise of praier and therby deserued to haue manie goodlie reuelations Vpon S. Dominickes eueen a
of life to deliuer sowles from the snares of the deuel which are errour and synne And that was his principal intent when he first founded his order to witt to wynne sowles out of the bondage of errour and synne and to bring them to the knowledge of truth and withal to the exrcise of a godlie and Christian life And for these cawses doe I liken him to my natural Sonne This was the reuelation which she had at that tyme while she was conferring with Friar Barthelmewe in the Church at what tyme she chaunced to cast her eye aside as it is declared before How the holie virgin being wholly enflamed 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. THis holie virgin was now replenished with such aboundance of grace that she bestowed in a maner the whole tyme of her life in heauenlie contemplations by reason wherof being often tymes rauished in spirite and abstracted from her bodilie senses she became so feeble and fainte that she was constrained to keepe her bed Where she laie as it were in a continual longyng languishing after her spowse with the diuine loue of whome she was so much inflamed that she might not well reason or thinke of anie other thing but only of him And manie tymes by reason of the vehemencie of that holie fyer burnyng in her hart she brake out into these wordes and repeated the same againe and againe O my most sweet and louelie Lord Sonne of God O my most deere amiable spowse Sonne of the B. virgin Marie With such wordes did she expresse the inward gronyng and melting of her hart This was her mornyng and euenyng song this her repast when she was hungrie this her rest after labour In this tyme our Lord appeered vnto her oftentymes which also increased the fyer in her hart in so much that on a tyme being ouercome with the heate of the same she began like one that were impatiently set to haue a thing as it were to quarel and expostulate with him saying O my most sweet and louely Lord O deere spowse of my soule wherfore dost thou suffer me to be holden here prisoner in the dongeon of this wicked worlde Wherfore dost thou not loose my bandes and call me awaie to thy blesful tabernacles Dost thou not see ô Lord that there is nothing vnder the sunne wherin I can take delite Dost thou not knowe that I do loue no creature in this worlde but only in thee or for thee Dost thou not see ô eye of heauen which seest all thinges that all thinges are to me vnsightly and yrckesome the beawtie of thy diuine maiestie only excepted wheron my hart is fixed wherfore then dost thou suffer this my wretched bodie to be so long a let and staie that I can not come and haue the ioyful fruition of that most excellent beawtie that I so much desire O my most gracious and amiable Lord O most sweet loue of my hart suffer me no longer to dwell in this earthie and foule prison but take me out and call me to dwell with thee in thyne euerlasting tabernacles To these wordes proceeding from such a louing and languishing spirite our Lord answered sweetly after this maner Deere daughter when I liued in earth I laboured to fulfill not myne owne will but the will of my Father And though I had an earnest desire to eate that last passeouer with my disciples as they heard me saie often tymes and so to be with my Father yet did I patiently abide the tyme that my Father had ordeined Thus much I tell thee to instructe thee by myne owne example that though thou haue a feruent desire to be perfectly vnited to me in blesse yet must thou tarry the tyme that I haue appointed Vnto the which wordes she made answere readily and said O Lord seeing it is thy pleasure that I shall not yet passe out of this life thy blessed will be done in all thinges both in heauen and in earth But yet one thing I most humbly beseech thee seeing it is so that I maie not be vnited to thee in blesse during the tyme of myne abode here in this life graunt me thus much that I maie be vnited to thee at the least in thy passion and that I maie haue a feeling of euerie particular paine and torment thou diddest suffer for me on the Crosse euen to the yealding vp of thy most holie spirite Thus she praied with great vehemencie of spirite and our Lord gaue fauourable eare to her petition for as she declared afterwardes secretly to her Confessour our Sauiour Christ neuer suffred anie kind of paine in his bodie which she did not likewise suffer in some degree And therfore she tooke a passing great delite to reason of the Crosse and passion of our Sauiour Christ and she reuealed diuerse and sundrie strange mysteries and made manie goodlie expositions vpon certaine places of the gospel such as were neuer by anie of the holie doctours before How bearing the Crosse of Christ continually in her bodie she tooke greate delite to reason of the same and how she reuealed manie strange mysteries vpon the holie scriptures concernyng the Crosse Chap. 27. REasonyng at diuerse and sundrie tymes of the Crosse of Christ she would take occasion to vtter manie goodlie doctrines and sentences which were of great force and efficacie to stirre vp the myndes of the hearers to the loue of Christ crucified Emong other thinges she affirmed constantly that our Sauiour Christ did from the verie hower of his conception to the end of his life beare a continual Crosse in his hart And of this doctrine she gaue a verie good reason after this maner Is it not most certaine said she that our Sauiour Christ the mediatour betweene God and man true God and true man was at the verie point of his conception replenished in the highest and most perfecte degree with all fulnes of grace knowledge wisedome and charitie In so much that it was not necessarie for him to learne ought of anie creature in heauen or in earth Then being so replenished with charitie it folweth necessarily that he had in him selfe the loue both of God and also of his neighbour in the highest perfection And being replenished with knowledge it foloweth likewise that he sawe most cleerely two pointes the one that almightie God was depriued of his honor feare and reuerence that man owed vnto him the other that man was depriued of euerlasting blesse which was dewe to him for the said honour feare and reuerence And of this loue and knowledge it must needes be that he bare a meruelous heauie and continual Crosse in his sowle which had euermore such a great and vehement thirst to the honour of God and to the saluation of man And bicause he knewe that the
in conscience to talke with her of certaine matters when doctour Raimundus heard that for verie charitie he lefte his owne busines vndone and went with him towardes the holie maides chamber supposing to haue fownd her there But when he came thither and asked for her the sisters answered that she was gone to Church To Church said he when went she to Church for sooth said they before Masse and there she hath continued euer sence With that he was much astoined and turned backe againe to the Church with the priour of the Carthusians where he fownd her in deed in a corner kneeling vpon her knees rauished in spirite as her maner was to be some other of the sisters with her To whome he spake and praied them that they would vse such meanes as they might conueniently to bring her to her selfe againe so soone as were possible For there was there with him a frind of his that had a great desire to speake with her and yet might not tarrie long Now when she was come to her selfe againe doctour Raimundus tooke her aside and in fewe wordes opened his owne case to her that he might geue place to his frind whose vrgent busines required a more speedie dispatch When she hade saide she smyled on him after a comfortable maner and asked him whether he had vsed such diligence as was requisite in seeking that peece Wherunto he answered that he had sought it with as great diligence as was possible If you haue done so said she whie are you so careful VVith that she smyled againe and went towardes the priour of the Charterhowse to speake with him In the meane tyme doctour Raimundus remained somewhat comforted but not fully satisfied vntill he might knowe in deed what was become of it So soone as she had done with the priour and satisfied him in all such demaundes as he made vnto her she returned againe to doctour Raimundus who being verie desiours to vnderstand the truth of the matter began with her after this sort Mother said he it is you I trowe that hath taken awaie this peece of the holie Host No for sooth father said she it was not I but an other that tooke it awaie from you and therfore take no more care for it for I assure you you shall neuer find it Then doctour Raimundus praied her that she would declare to him the whole processe of the matter which she did with a good will to the honour of God and to satisfie his careful mynd Father said she be you no more careful for that peece of the blessed Host For I tell it to you as to my ghostlie father that it was brought to me and I receiued it at the reuerend handes of our most blessed Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ And that you maie vnderstand the cause also I thinke it good to make yet a further declaration of the matter vnto you Father it is so that I was this mornyng in purpose and had withal a verie earnest desire to receiue But my sisters gaue me counsel to the contrarie bicawse my receiuing was like to be troublesome to some of the brethren who as they said grutched somewhat at it wherupon I thought with my selfe to folowe not myne owne will but their aduise But my desire was so great that when I sawe that I could not receiue at the hands of men without their great trouble and disquet I turned my selfe to God and besought him in most humble wise that he would vouchsafe to helpe his poore handmaid Our gracious Lord heard my petition and so foorthwith appeered vnto me and ministred that fourth part that you speake of to me with his owne handes wherfore good Father be you of good comfort for you haue lost nothing and I haue fownd that wherby I remaine meruelously well refresshed and satisfied When doctour Raimundus heard that he was likewise fully satisfied and so departed towardes his couent praising and magnifying the infinite goodnes of almightie God who filleth the hungrie with good thinges and geueth the peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding to them that serue him in holines and righteousnes and keepe them selues with a warie and fearefull regard from all such thinges as they thinke maie in anie degree offend his diuine maiestie How her face did shine like an angel while she was receiuing the blessed Sacrament and of certaine other strange signes Chap. 32. ON a tyme doctour Raimundus returnyng from Auinion to Siena went to visite the holie maid and entering into her lodging about noone tyde fownd her praying in her oratorie This thing happened vpon S. Marckes daie the Euangelist When she sawe him she rose vp after a ciuil maner as it were to welcome him and said these wordes O father if you knewe how hungrie my soule is Doctour Raimundus vnderstood wel what she meant and therfore made her answere that the tyme was farre spent and that he was him selfe so weerie of his iourney that he could hardly dispose him selfe to saie Masse that daie With that she held her peace a litle while and soone after brake out againe said Father I am verie hungrie Then doctour Raimundus to satisfie her impatient desire which he knewe was of God prepared him selfe to Masse in her owne chapple not farre from her lodging which she had peculiar to her selfe by special licence from the popes holines when he had receiued the blessed Sacrament him selfe he made readie an Host that he had there consecrated to minister to her also And turnyng him selfe to her to geue her the general absolution as the maner of holie Church is behold he sawe her face transfigured like the face of an Angel all cleere lightsome and casting out beames of a meruelous brightnes With the which strange sight he was so astoined that he said in him selfe to almightie God Surely Lord this is not Caterines face this is vndoubtedly the face of thy deerely beloued spowse With that he turned him selfe againe to the aulter and looking vpon the consecrated Host said these wordes in his hart Come O Lord to thy spowse And he had no sooner spoken those wordes in his mynd but that the holie Host came of it selfe into his handes and did as it were offer it selfe to be caried to the mouth of his deer spowse Thus much did doctour Raimundus testifie him selfe who was a verie graue wise and learned man There were also diuerse other credible persones that affirmed constantly that when this holie maid did at diuerse and sundrie tymes receiue the blessed Sacrament they might heare sensibly how the holy Host made a noyse in her mouth as though it had ben a stone cast with great strength and violence For confirmatiō wherof brother Barthelmewe who was likewise a doctour of diuinity verie godlie man testified that manie tymes when he ministred the blessed Sacrament vnto her the holie Host departed from his fingers after a violent maner and so entred into the mouth of the holie
excused The parentes whose hartes were verie heauie and careful for the innocent child would not take that excuse but tooke their daughter and went to her to her lodging And came to the house so sodainly that she could not possibly escape by the dore but that they must needes haue a sight of her The which whē she sawe she fownd the meanes to conueie her selfe out by a windowe and so hid her selfe for that tyme in such sort that they could not find her At the last when they had tried all waies sawe that they could by no meanes come to her speech for she had geuen charge to as manie as were about her that none should moue her in that matter they resolued to goe to doct Thomas her ghostlie father to entreat him that seeing the case was so lamētable she so vnwilling to deale in it he would cōmaund her in the vertue of her obedience to keepe the child with her for a tyme. Doctour Thomas was much moued with their pitiful sute and therfore put them in comfort that he would doe for his part what was possible to be done But bicause he knewe well that if he spake to her him selfe she would of humilitie make one excuse or other in such sort that he should not be able to moue her anie further he deuised this wyle He awaited a tyme late in the euenyng when he knewe that the holie maid was abrode then tooke the child that was possessed and put her into a chamber whether he knewe she would come that night leauing word with the rest of the sisters that they should tell her when she came home that he commaunded her in the vertue of her obedience to suffer that child to remaine there with her all that night vntill the next morrowe And so he went his waie and lefte the child with them Anon after when she came home and espied the child in her chamber she asked the sisters who had brought that child thither They made her answere and said that doctour Thomas her confessour had lefte the child there And they declared furthermore that he had willed her in the vertue of her obedience to take the charge of the child till the next daie When she heard that she made no more a doe but set her selfe foorthwith to praier and caused the child to kneele downe and praie with her And so they continued together all that night encountering and fighting against the wicked sprite vntill at the length a litle before daie he was constreined by the force of her faithful praier to depart and to leaue the innocent child without doing anie harme to her bodie The which thing when one of the sisters caled Alexia perceiued she ranne to doctour Thomas and told him that the child was deliuered Doct Thomas likewise being very glad of that ioiful newes wēt to the father mother and brought them with him to the holie maides chamber Where when they sawe the child deliuered in deed they wept for ioye and glorified almightie God that had geuen such power to his humble spowse But the holie maid knewe that the wicked sprite had not quite forsaken the child and therefore intreated the father and mother that she might remaine there with her a litle tyme which they graunted with a good will Then she began to instructe the child exhorted her to geue her self to continual prayer And withal she gaue her a great charge that she should in no wise depart out of the house vntill her father and mother came thether againe to fetch her home Which pointes the child obserued verie well Now it chaunced in this meane tyme that the holie maid had occasion to goe home to her owne house about some necessarie busines for all this was done not in her owne house but in the house of one of the sisters called Alexia of whome mention is made before and there to continue all that daie for the which tyme she lefte the child with a seruant gaue her a great charge withall When she had passed ouer the whole daie in her owne house about such necessarie businesses as she had there to doe and night was come she willed Alexia to giue her her mātel for she would returne with her to her house To that Alexia made answere and said that it was verie late and that it would be euel thought of if women esp religious persones should be seene abrode at that tyme of the night O Alexia said she we must needes goe for that hellish wolfe is about to take my litle lambe awaie from me againe And with that they went both together and found the child in deed verie strangely altered her face all red and her wittes vtterly distracted When the holy maid sawe that she brak out with great indignation into these wordes Ah thou foule feend of hell how durst thou thus to enter againe vpon this poore innocent I trust in the great goodnes of my deere Lord and Sauiour that thou shalt now be cast out in such sort that thou shalt neuer dare to enter againe And with that she tooke the child with her into her chamber where she continued for a certaine tyme in praier Which done she brought out the child againe fully deliuered of that wicked sprite and willed that other sister that was there with her to take the child and laie her downe vpon the bed that she might rest a while And the next morrowe she sent for the father and mother to whome she spake after this maner Take your child home with you on Gods name for from this daie foreward she shall neuer be troubled more with that wicked sprite They tooke their child with glad hartes and lead her to the monasterie from whence she came where she liued a verie blessed life vnder that holie rule and discipline and was neuer molested more to her dying daie Which thing was so ioyous to maister Michael her father that he could neuer tell it afterwardes but that he wept for ioye And he honoured the holie maid in his hart as if she had ben an Angel of God Doctour Raimundus being certified of this great miracle by the faithful report of doctour Thomas Alexia and of the father and mother of the child went him selfe to the holie maid and desired her that she would enforme him particularly of the matter But specially he was desirous to knowe the cause whie the thing was not wrought by the vertue of some holie reliques which the father and mother sought so diligentlie vnto or els exorcismes as it is wont to be Wherunto she made answere that it was a verie rough and stubborne sprite so obstinatly bent that at the first tyme she was faine to continue in battaile against him from the euenyng til the fourth houer of the night before she could expell him And at the length when he sawe that he must needes depart being indeed therunto constreined by the force of her feruent praier
and by vertue of the charge that she gaue him in Gods be halfe he said these wordes to her If I must needes depart out of this child I will enter into thee Wherunto she made answere said If it be Gods pleasure without whose licēce I am well assured thou maiest doe nothing our Lord forbid that I should be against his holie will in anie thing The which wordes proceeding of a verie humble and and resigned spirite so strooke the proud feend that he lost all the strenght that he had before against the innocent child Howbeit in passing out he rested a while in the chides throte which was perceiued by a great swelling that he made in that place Which thing the holie maid seeing she made the signe of the Crosse ouer the childes throte by vertue wherof the wicked sprite was vtterly dispossessed in such sort that he might neuer returne to disquiet the child againe How she deliuered a woman that was possessed of a wicked sprite Chap. 35. ON a tyme while this holie maid was at a certaine castel or towne called Rocka within the territorie of Siena with a worshipful ladie whose name was Madam Bianchina it happened that a womā of the same castel was sodainly taken and miserably tormented with a wicked sprite The which piteful sight when Madame Bianchina sawe she was so moued with compassion that she thought to become an earnest suter to the holie maid for her deliuerie But bicause she vnderstood that such sutes were commonly verie vnpleasant to the holie maid who of a great humilitie shewed her selfe euermore verie loth to meddle in anie such matter she asked counsel of certaine of the religious sisters that were there with the holie maid whose aduise was that the woman should be brought to her presence sodainly and vnawares to her that the sight of the piteful creature might moue her to compassion The which aduise seemed verie good and according to the same the woman was in deed on a daie brought in before the holie maid in a place where she happened to be making a loue-daie betweene two that were fallen out When she sawe the wretched woman and sawe withal that she could by no meanes auoid she turned to the ladie Bianchina and said Ah madame God forgeue you Wote you what you haue done knowe you not that I haue trouble inough by these wicked sprites that doe from tyme to tyme molest myne owne persone wherfore then doe you increase my trouble in presenting others before me that are vexed with these foule feendes With that she turned to the woman that was possessed and said to the wicked sprite Thou malicious enemie of mankind I charge thee laie downe thy head here in this mans lappe and abide there till I come againe She had no sooner spoken those wordes but that the woman that was vexed laid downe her head in a certaine Anchorites lappe that was there by who was called Sanctus and neuer remoued till she came againe In this meane tyme while the holie maid was gone out to make vp a full peace betweene two men of warre that were at variance whose dwelling was not farre from that place the sprite cried out mightely by the mouth of that miserable woman leanyng her head in the Anchorites lappe and said Whie doe ye hold me here I praie you let me goe for I am verie hard houlden They that stood thereby made answere and said to him againe And whie dost thou not goe thy waie who holdeth thee Is not the doore open Oh said he that cursed woman hath bound me here She holdeth me that I maie not depart What woman said they That that cursed woman said he and would not or peraduenture could not name her but after a raging maner cried out that cursed creature that cursed woman myne enemie Then the Anchorite asked him whether he tooke her for his great enemie or no. Yea said he the greatest that I haue this daie in the wordle Then those that were there present being much disquieted with his outragious crying said to him Hold thy peace Caterine cometh meanyng therby to put him in feare and so to cause him to cease his crying No no said he she cometh not yet She is in such a place where she was in deed They asked him what she did there what doth she said he She is now doing of a thing as she is at all tymes wherin I take small pleasure And with that he cried out againe verie sore and said Ah whie am I thus holden here And it was euidently seene that he neuer moued from that place where the holie maid charged him to abide till her comyng againe At the last he said Now is that that cursed woman comyng They demaunded of him where she was She is now said he in such a place And now she is gone from thence and goeth towardes such a place And so declared from tyme to tyme how she passed from place to place vntill at the length when she was come to the gate of the house where they were he said Now she is come When she was entred into the house and began to make towardes the chamber wherin they abode her returne he cried out with a lowd voice said Ah why hold yee me here by force The holie maid made answere and said Arise wretch and get thee hence and leaue this creature of God and from this houer foreward see that thou be neuer so hardie as once to molest her againe And with that it was seene that the wiked feend forsooke all the other partes of that womans bodie and gathered him selfe into her throte where he made such an horible swelling that it moued as manie as were present to great compassion Then the holie maid made the signe of the Crosse ouer the place that was swolen and forthwith he went his waie lefte the woman safe and sound in the presence of a great manie that were there and sawe this euident miracle with their eyes But bicause the poore woman had ben sore trauailed by the feend the holie maid willed thē to bring her home to her howse that she might rest a while take some sustenāce And so they did Now when she was fully come to her selfe againe and knewe the place and personnes that were about her she had great meruaile asked some of her acqueintance what she did there and how she came thither They made her answere and declared vnto her in what case she had ben and what had ben done by the holie maid about her deliuerie When she heard that she was astoined and said that in truth she could remember no such thing Only this she confessed that her bodie was verie sore shaken and brused as if it had ben beaten with a cluble Then she turned her selfe after a verie humble maner towardes the holie maid and with most hartie thankes acknowledged the great benefite that she had there receiued at Gods hand through her meanes
Of this euident miracle were witnesses the ladie Bianchina that holie Anchorite in whose lappe it was done other moe to the number of thirtie persones Manie other miracles she wrought of like sort in casting out of deuels in the presence of diuerse and sundrie credible persones the which honour triumph ouer the enemie it pleased out Lord to geue her in the sight of the wordle bicause she had at all tymes so valiantly resisted and ouerthrowen him in her owne persone when soeuer he moued her by anie meanes either to pride of mynd or vncleannes of bodie THE THIRD PART 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. EMONG manie goodlie gyftes and graces with the which this holie Virgin was endued one was the spirite of prophecie which was in her so strange and singular that she not only foresawe the thinges that were to come so perfectely as if they had ben present but also persed into the verie secrets of mens hartes told them what they thought Which thing caused the wordle to haue her in such admiration that when she spake to them of matters concerning their soules health they heard her wordes with greater attention and reuerence About the yeare of our Lord. 1375. at what tyme Gregorie the eleuenth was Pope manie cities and territories in Italie rebelled against the Sea Apostolike withdrawing them selues and their yearelie reuenwes from the Church of Rome Which reuolt all good men tooke verie heauily and namely Doctoure Raimundus whose griefe was so great that he went of purpose to Pisa where the holie maid chaunced to be at that tyme to powre out his hart before her As he was declaring to her the lamentable state of thinges abrode with sorowful wordes and manie teares she shewed likewise in countenance that she had great compassion of a nomber of soules that were like to perish through that synful rebellion But when he had said she made him answere after this maner Father said she begynne not to weepe so soone for all this is but honye mylke in comparison of that that shall come hereafter What said he Thinke you that I shall euer haue greater cause to sorrowe then I haue at this present seeing as I now see the people so wickedly bent that they are not afraid to set them selues against our holie mother the Church and to make light of her curse excommunication What remaineth now but only that they do vtterly denie the faith of Christ To that the holie maid made answere and said Father all that ye see hitherto is done by the common laie people but you shall see hereafter an other maner of rebellion then this is contriued and practised by the clergie When Doctour Raimundus heard that he was meruelously astonied for a tyme. At the length he asked her whether she thought it a thing possible that the clergie should rebell against the Church Yea said she it is possible and you shall see it For when our holie Father the Pope shall goe about to reforme their maners then shall they set them selues vp against him and make a schisme in the Church Wherof shall arise great slaunder and offence to all good men And therefore I geue you warning before that you arme your selfe with patience for you shall see all this Doctour Raimundus at that tyme mistooke the holie maides wordes supposing that she had meant that all these thinges should haue come to passe then presently in Pope Gregories daies And therefore when he sawe that Pope Gregorie was dead he thought no more of her wordes because he imagined that the terme of her prophecie had ben expired But afterwardes in the tyme of Pope Vrbanus the sixte when he sawe and felt also that wicked rebellion that was raised against him by the proude prelates of the Church he called to mynd what the holie maid had said vnto him before and thought euerie hower a daie vntill he might haue some oportunitie to conferre with her concerning the state of those present troubles Which by the disposition of almightie God came to passe euen as he desired for in that furie of rebellion and schisme the holie maid was sent for to Rome by commaundement of the Popes holines where Doctour Raimundus repaired vnto her and put her in mynd of such communication as had passed betweene them long tyme before in Pisa I remember well said she that such wordes I spake to you at that tyme which now you see verified And now I will geue you to vnderstand thus much more Like as I said to you then that the rebellion of that tyme was but mylke and honey in comparison of this that you see now euen so I tell you now that these present troubles are but a childes game in comparison of those horrible calamities that are to come And with that she began to recite diuerse and sundrie plagues which she foresawe should fall vpon manie partes of the wordle and namely vpon the Kingdome of Sicilia and countreis there about The which prophecie was in deed fulfilled soone after in the tyme of Queene Ione and of her successour with such vnwonted scourges calamities and almost vtter subuersion not only of the Kingdome of Sicilia but also of all other Kingdomes Territories and Cities lying neere vnto it that Doctour Raimundus and as manie as liued and sawe afterwardes the horrible state of that bloodie tyme confessed that the like had not ben often seene in those partes of the wordle before When Doctour Raimundus had heard thus much concerning the scourges and afflictions that were towardes the Church of the which some he sawe then presently verified and therefore doubted nothing of the rest he asked the holie maid whether after all these stormes there were not like to come a calme emong the people of God Wherunto she made answere after this maner Father said she almightie God hath determined thus to purge his Church by calamities and tribulations The which when he hath once done he will raise vp a newe spirite in his chosen seruantes and send such godlye Pastors and Curates ouer his flocke that my hart reioyseth within my bodie to thinke vpon that goodlye reformation that shall insue in all states of men And as the Church of Christ seemeth now poore deformed and naked so shall it then be seene in a verie glorious and beautifull state clad with the seemelie ornamentes of vertue godlines The good shall ioye to see the Church of God in such a flourishing peace and the euel shal be allured by the sweet sauour of their vertuous conuersation to folowe them in the patthes of Gods holie commandementes Therefore father thanke our Lord who of his gracious goodnes voutchsafeth after raine and tēpestes to send faire wether Thus much spake the holie maid touching the state of the Church to Doctour Raimundus whom she lefte in a
AT what tyme Pope Vrbanus the sixt was enforced to flee out of Rome by reason of a rebellion that was raised against him in the citie by the french faction the holie maid which as then was left behind in Rome and sawe the miserable state of the Church wept daie and night and with continual sighes and sobbes made her praier to our Lord beseeching him most instantly that he would voutchsafe to cease the furie of those wicked rebels and geue peace to his afflicted Church And it was well seene that her praier was heard For soone after it pleased God so to dispose that in one daie both those factious schismatikes that had taken armes against the Sea Apostolike were vanquished and taken and the castle of S. Angelo which had holden out long tyme before rendred it selfe into the Popes handes When our holie father the Pope vnderstood of this great victorie he returned to the citie againe where he asked the holie maid her aduise what she thought best to be done in that case And her aduise was that he should goe bare footed to S. Peeters Church and all the people with him to thanke God with all submission and sowlines of hart for that ioyous calme after so lōg stormes And thus the Church of Christ began as it were to reuiue againe and the holie maid tooke passing great comfort to see it But that ioye endured not long For within a litle tyme after these troubles were pacified the deuel whose malice is euermore vigilant against the Church of God raised vp a newe tempest And what he could not bring to passe by the furie of strangers that did he attempt againe by sowing discord betweene the citizens of Rome and the Popes holines When the holie maid perceiued that and sawe the imminent peril that was like thereby to ensue to the Church of God she turned her selfe to our Lord in praier and besought him that he would hold his holie hand ouer the people and not suffer them to commit such a wicked and heinous synne And as she was thus praying she sawe the citie full of damned sprites stirring and exciting the people to kill the Pope And those sprites cried horribly to her and said Thou cursed wretch thou art euermore busie to let our designementes But be thou well assured we shall put thee to a foule death She gaue them no word to answere but continued her praier with greater feruour and deuotion beseeching our Lord with all instancie that he would voutchsafe to keepe her from all mischiefe and also that it would please him to preserue the Pope his lieuetenant and vicar general in earth from all the violent attemptes of those wicked conspiratours for the honour of his owne holie name and for the redresse of his deere Spouse the Church which as then was in verie lamentable state She praied likewise for those impious rebels and besought our Lord most earnestly that he would voutchsafe of his infinite mercie to mollifie their hartes not suffer them to commit such a horrible sinne as to murder their owne Father and Pastour When she had praied often after this maner it pleased God one tyme to geue her this answere Daughter said he suffer the people to accōplish their malice in committing this damnable synne that they are about that I maie exercise my iustice and punish them according to their desertes For their wickednes is so odious and horrible in my sight that it maie no longer be endured When the holie maid heard those dreadful wordes she set her selfe to praier againe with farre greater deuotion and vehemencie of spirite then before and said O most merciful Lord thou seest how thy deere of Spouse the Church whom thou hast redeemed with the price of thy most precious blood is this daie miserably vexed and afflicted almost through out the wordle Thou knowest on the one side how fewe there are that shewe them selues readie to assist and comfort her and thou art not ignorant on the other side how manie there are and how cruelly bent that seeke by all possible meanes to annoye and discomfort her And in this behalfe it can not be hidden from thyne eyes which see all thinges how manie treacheries and treasons there are now in contriuing to make our holie father thy vicar out of the waie The which most detestable conspiracie if it take place must needes turne not only this citie of Rome but also the whole bodie of Christendome to great discomfort and slaunder Therefore ô blessed Lord I most humbly beseech thee that thou wilt for this tyme temper the rigour of thy iustice and spare thy people whom thou hast bought so deere After this maner did the holie maid continue manie daies and manie nightes together in feruent praier in the which tyme our Lord did euer more alleadge iustice and she craued mercie And all the tyme that she was thus occupied in praier the wicked sprites did so vexe and torment her with their horrible scriching and crying that her bodie waxed meruelous feeble In so much that if our Lord had not by his almightie power susteined her it had not ben possible for her to haue endured but her hart must needes haue burst in sunder In the end she concluded her praier with these wordes O Lord said she seeing it is so that thy mercie maie not be granted without thy Iustice I beseech thee despise not my praiers but whatsoeuer paine is to be laied vpon this people laie it vpon my bodie and I will beare it with all my hart for the loue that I beare to the honour of thy holie name and to the saluation of their soules After the tyme that she had spoken these wordes our Lord made no more mention of his iustice but held his peace and gaue her the victorie as the effecte declared euidently For from that verie hower foreward it was seene that the people did by litle and litle cease off their conspiracies and practises against the Popes holines and in the end submitted them selues wholly to his authoritie But as their malice relented by litle and litle and in tyme ceased so did her paine and smart likewise increase answerably by the permission of God by whose suffrance the wicked sprites vexed and tormented her bodie so cruelly that it seemed incredible but only to such as were present with her and sawe how it was in part rent and torne as it had ben with yron hookes in part swollen and full of blacke and blewe wailes as though it had ben beaten with clubbes and all ouer so pitifully araied that it seemed rather a thing to wonder at then a natural bodie All the which notwithstanding she gaue not ouer her accustomed maner of praier but continued in the same both longer tyme together then she was wont to doe before and also with greater feruour of spirite and deuotion then she was wont to haue at other tymes And euermore as she increased in praier charitable
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
sawe that being moued with pitie she turned her selfe to God after her accustomed maner in praier and besought him with great instance that he would voutchsafe to prolong her mothers life Our Lord made answere that if she could be brought to dispose her selfe to die at that tyme it would be best for her forsomuch as if she liued longer there were such stormes of troubles and aduersitie towardes her as she should not be able to beare The holie maid hearing that went to her mother and comforted her and vsed manie sweet perswasions with her to induce her to be content seeing it was the will of God to passe out of this wretched state to a more happie and blessed life But the mother geuing but a deaffe eare to this kind of talke charged her daughter earnestly that she should rather praie to God for the continuance of her life for as yet she could in no wise be brought to depart out of the wordle Then the holie maid in great anguish and perplexitie of mynd became a mediatrix betweene almightie God and her mother humbly beseeching him on the one side that he would not suffer her mother to depart vntill she were resolued to die willingly for his loue and earnestly exhorting her on the other side that she should yeald her hart fully and wholly to the will of God But she was so fixed on the wordle that she might not abide to heare of death Whereupon our Lord speake to the holie maid after this sort Daughter said he tell thy mother that if she will not consent to die now a tyme shall come when she shal be so afflicted that she shall desire to die and shall not be heard Which saying of our Lord tooke effecte within a litle tyme after and she was in deed so miserably tormented in mynd with the losse of her temporal goods vnto the which she bare a meruelous inordinate loue that she brake out impatiently into certaine wordes as it were of desperation and despite against God saying Is it possible that God hath so inclosed my soule in this crooked bodie that it can find no waie out Haue I sent so manie of my sonnes and daughters kinsfolkes and frindes housband and all out of the wordle before me with great griefe and now am constreined to remaine here alone after them all to see my selfe ouerwhelmed with heauines and miserie And so with this bitternes of hart and murmuring against God she passed out of this life without anie further contrition or repentance for her synnes Her daughter tooke this maner of her departure meruelous heauily and could receiue no coÌ„fort but setting her selfe to praier which she had euermore tried to be a present remedie against all euels she sighed sobbed and wept verie lamentably and powred out the griefe of her hart before God with these wordes O my deere Lord and God are these the promises that thou hast made me that there should no one of my house and familie perish in the handes of the enemie Behold ô Lord my mother is now passed out of this life without repentance for her synnes without confession without the rightes of holie Church O sweet Lord O Father of all comfort I most humbly beseech thee in the bowels of thy tender mercie that thou wilt not reiecte the petition of thy lowlie handmaid at this tyme. See ô Lord I lie here prostrate before thy diuine Maiestie and will not rise out of this place vntill my mother be restored to life againe and I ascertained of her saluation that thy promises maie be verified and my soule comforted While the holie maid was thus praying there were a nomber of women in the chamber some of the houshold and some of the neighbours that came thither at that tyme as the maner is to mourne and to doe such thinges as were to be done about the dead corps Emong these women some there were also that gaue diligent eare to the holie maid heard distinctly what wordes she spake in her praier But they all sawe this and were witnesses of the same that soone after the holie maid had ended her praier the sowle returned to the bodie againe and the woman liued afterwardes a conuenient tyme to repent her of her former offences and so died in the state of grace This storie did the holie maid her selfe declare afterwardes to Doctour Raimundus her ghostlie father How the holie maid obteined of God by praier the conuersion of two theeues that were lead to execution Chap. 10. ON a daie while the holie maid was in the house of one of her sisters called Alexia it chaÌ„ced that two famoê° theeues condemned to death were caried in a cart thorough the streete towardes the place of execution Their sentence was that by the waie as they were caried they should be pinched now in one part of their bodie and now in an other with hote yrons or pincers and so in the end put to death Which paine was so intolerable that they which were before in a desperate state and might by no perswasions be brought to repent them of their manifold and heinous offences committed against God and the wordle blasphemed God all his Sainctes In so much that it seemed that the temporal tormentes that they were now in were but a begynning and waie to these euerlasting tormentes and fyer that they went vnto But our merciful Lord whose prouident goodnes disposeth all thinges sweetly had otherwise determined of them When they were come neere to this house Alexia hearing a great concourse and noyse of people in the streete went to the windowe to see what it might be And seeing the horrible maner of the execution she ranne in againe and said to the holie maid O mother if euer you will see a pitiful sight come now With that the holie maid went to the windowe and looked out and so soone as she had seene the maner of the execution she returned foorthwith to her praiers againe For as she declared afterwardes secretly to Doctour Raimundus she sawe a great multitude of wicked spirites about those fellons which did burne their soules more cruelly within then the tormentours did their bodies without Which lamentable sight moued her to double compassion She had great pitie to see their bodies but much more to seâ— their soules wherefore turning her selfe to our Lord with great feruour of spirite she made her praier to him after this maner Ah deere Lord wherefore dost thou suffer these thy creatures made to thyne owne image and likenes and redeemed with the price of thy most precious blood to be thus lead awaie in triumph by the cruel enemie I know ô Lord confesse that these men are iustly punished according to the measure of their offences So was the theefe also that hong by thee on the Crosse whom notwithstanding thou tookest to mercie saying that he should be with thee that verie daie in Paradyse Thou diddest not refuse Peeter but gauest him a
frindlie and comfortable looke though he like an vnkind man had thrice refused and denied thee Thou drewest Marie Magdalen to thee with the lines of loue when she had estranged her selfe from thee by her manifold synnes Thou tookest Mathewe the Publicane from a synful trade of life in the wordle to be an Apostle and Euangelist Thou diddest not repell the woman of Cananee nor Zacheus the Prince of Publicans but didest most sweetly accept the one and inuite the other Wherefore I most humbly beseech thee for all thy mercies hitherto shewed vnto man and for all those also that thyne infinite goodnes hath determined to shewe hereafter that thou wilt voutchsafe to looke downe vpon these wretched creatures mollifie their hartes with the fyer of thy holie spirite that they maie be deliuered from the second death Our Lord heard the praier of his Spowse and graunted her such a grace that she went in spirite with those two theeues towardes the place of execution weeping and lamenting for their synnes and mouing them to repentance for the same Which thing the wicked sprites perceiued well inough and therefore they cried out vpon her and said Catherine leaue to trouble vs. If thou wilt not we will surely enter into thee and vexe thee To whom the holie maid made this answere As God will so will I. And therefore I will not cease to doe what lieth in me for the reliefe of these poore wretches because I know it is the will of God that I should so doe And so continuing in praier she procured them a verie singular fauour and grace as the effecte declared For when these theeues were come to the gate of the citie our Sauiour Christ appeered to them shewing to them his precious woundes all streamīg downe with blood inuiting them to become repētant for their former life Which if they did he put them in a sure cōfort that all was quite forgeuen At this strāge sight their hartes were sodainly so altered to the great wōder of as manie as were there presēt that they changed their stile and turned their blasphemie into thākesgeuing praysing God for his great mercies And shewing thēselues to be hartely sorie contrite for their synnes desired earnestly that they might haue a Priest to heare their Cōfessiōs That done they went forward cheerfully towardes the place of executiō where they shewed likewise great tokens of ioy cōfort for that they had to passe by a reproachful death to a glorious life All the people sawe this strange alteratiō were much astonied at it because as thē they vnderstood not the cause thereof which afterwards came to light by this meane The Priest that heard these fellōs Cōfessiōs wēt soone after to visit Doct. Rai the holie maides Cōfessour in talke declared vnto him how wonderfully God had wrought with thē Doct. Rai foorthwith begā to suspect as it was indeed therfore asked Alexia what the holie maid was doīg at that tyme whē the theeues were lead thorough their street towardes the place of executiō She made him answer declared the whole processe of the matter so much as she had seene heard in her owne house Whereby Doctour Raimundus sawe a verie great likelihood that the thing had ben wrought as he deemed before by the praier and intercession of the holie maid Howbeit for the more assurance he tooke an occasion afterwardes to aske the holie maid her selfe And she to the honour of God and for the satisfaction of her ghostlie father declared vnto him particularly how euerie thing had passed Within a fewe daies after this was done certaine of the sisters that chaunced to be present while the holie maid was praying heard her saie these wordes in her praier with a full voice O Lord Iesu I most hartely thanke thee that thou hast deliuered them out of the second prison Of the which wordes being demaunded afterwardes what she meant by them she made answere that the soules of those theeues were as then deliuered out of Purgatorie and restored to Paradyse Such was her charitie towardes them that as she had by praier deliuered them from the euerlasting tormentes of hell so she neuer ceased to praie for them vntill she sawe that they were also passed the temporal paines of Purgatorie and receiued into euerlasting blisse How by the praier of the holie maid an obstinate synner was turned to God Chap. 11. THere was a man dwelling in the citie of Siena called Andrewe Mardine well endued with wordlie substance but bare of heauenlie ritches void of the loue and feare of God a baretter blasphemer and wicked liuer This man about the fortieth yeare of his age was sodainly taken with a verie grieuous sickenes which held him so vehemently that he was faine to keepe his bed where he laie waxed euerie daie weaker weaker vntill at the length he was geuen ouer by the Phisicions and despaired of all men His curate hearing that came to visite him and as his Pastoral charge required exhorted him with manie wordes that he should now in the end of his life dispose him selfe to Confession and penance for his soules health But he was so obstinately bent that he litle esteemed the Priest and lesse his counsel Which thing his wife perceiuing which was a good woman and had a great desire to sawe her husbandes soule ranne to diuerse and sundrie religious persones both men and women besought them that they would come and doe their diligence to turne his hart They came at her instance and vsed manie perswasible meanes to bring him to a better mynd setting before his eyes now the horrible threates of hell fyer and now the sweete peomises of the ioyes of heauen but all in vaine After them came the curate againe with great heauines and care to doe what in him laie towardes the recouerie of this sowle that was thus in danger to perish He exhorted him as he had done before and thereunto added manie goodlie perswasions to induce him to be repentant for his foremer life and to call to God for mercie But the wretched mans hart was so hardened that he might not endure to heare him speake but scorned both him and his holesome exhortations In so much that at the lenght he fell into plaine desperation and synne against the holie Ghost and in that damnable state drewe on a pace towardes his end This matter chanced to come to the knowledge of doctour Thomas who hauing great compassion of the wretched mans case went foorthwith towardes the holie Maides lodging hoping by her mediation to find some grace in the sight of God But when he came thither he found the holie maid rauished from her bodilie senses And so long as she was so he durst not doe anie thing to her bodie wherby to bring her againe and tarrie there anie longer he might not bicause it wae verie late in the euenyng Wherefore he gaue a verie streight charge to one of
the sisters that was there with her at that tyme that when the holie maid came to her selfe againe she should desire her in his name and also charge her in the vertue of her obedience that she should extend her charitie towardes that miserable man that laie on passing and praie to God hartely for his recouerie When the holie maid vnderstood the lamentable state of the sicke man and withall the charge that was geauen her from her ghostlie father she taried not but foorthwith set her selfe to praier and besought our Lord with great instance and feruour of spirite that he would not suffer that soule to perish whome he had redeemed with the price of his most precious blood To that our Lord made answere and said that the iniquitie of that wicked man was so heinous in his sight that the crie thereof perced the heauens and called for iustice for he had not only in wordes most horribly blasphemed the holie name of God and of his Sainctes but also with great despite and malice throwen a table into the fyer in the which was painted the death and passion of our Sauiour Christ together with the images of our blessed Ladie and other Sainctes By the which facte he had deserued euerlasting damnation When the holie maid heard that she fell downe prostrate before our Lord and said O Lord if thou wilt looke narrowly to our iniquities who shal be able to stand Wherefore camest thou downe from heauen into the wordle Wherefore tookest thou flesh of the most pure and vnspotted virgin Marie Wherefore diddest thou suffer a most bitter and reprochfull death Hast thou done all these thinges ô Lord to this end that thou mightest call men to a streight and rigorous account for their synnes and not rather that thou mightest vtterly cancel their debtes and take them to mercie Why dost thou ô merciful Lord tell me of the synnes of one lost man seeing thou hast borne vpon thyne owne shoulders the synnes of the whole wordle that none should be lost Doe I lie here prostrate at thy feete to demaund iustice and not rather to craue mercie Doe I present my selfe here before thy diuine Maiestie to pleade the innocencie of this wretched creature and not rather to confesse that he is gyltie of euerlasting death and damnation and that the onlie refuge is to appeale to thyne endles mercie Remember ô deere Lord what thou saidest to me when thou diddest first will me to goe abrode and to procure the saluation of manie soules Thou knowest right well that I haue none other ioye or comfort in this life but only to see the conuersion of synners vnto thee And for this cause only I am content to lacke the ioyful fruition of thy blessed presence Wherefore if thou take this ioye from me what other thing shall I find in this vale of miserie wherein to take pleasure or comfort O most merciful Father God of all comfort reiecte not the hūble petition of thyne handmaid put me not awaie from thee at this tyme but graciously graunt me that this my brothers hard hart maie be mollified and made to yeald to the working of thy holie spirite Thus did the holie maid continue in praier and disputation with our Lord from the begynning of the night till the nexte morning All the which tyme she neither slept nor tooke anie maner of rest but wept and wailed continually for great compassion that she had to see that soule perish our Lord euermore alleaging his iustice and she crauing his mercie At the length our Lord being as it were ouercome with her importunitie and crying gaue her this comfortable answere Deere daughter I will stand no longer with thee in this matter Thy teares and lamentable crying haue preuailed and wrested the sword of my iustice out of myne hand This synful man shall for thy sake find such fauour and grace as thou requirest for him And with that our Lord withdrewe him selfe from the holie maid and appeered the same hower to the sicke man and spake to him after this maner Deere child why wilt thou not be repentant for the synnes that thou hast committed against me In anie case be sorie for thyne offences and confesse the same and I am readie to pardon thee That word so persed the hart of that obstinate man that he relented foorth with and cried with a lowd voice to them that were there present besought them for Gods loue that they would helpe him to a ghostlie father with all possible speed For said he my Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ hath shewed him selfe mercifully to me and willed me to be confessed of all my synnes When they heard that they were verie much astoined but withall meruelously comforted to see that soddaine and blessed alteration in him And they made great hast to bring him a ghostlie father to whome he made a perfecte Confession of all his synnes with great contrition and so passed out of this wordle in the state of grace How the holie maid by praier procured the conuersion of a fierce yong gentleman in Siena called Iames Tolomes Cap. 12. THere was in the citie of Siena a gentleman of a worshipfull parentage called Francis Tolomes who tooke to wife on Rabes a gentlewoman likewise of a good howse and by her had manie sonnes and daughters His eldest sonne was called Iames a prowd and hawtie yong man and of nature verie fierce and cruel in so much that being yet but a child of age he killed two men with his owne handes which cawsed all men both to dread him and to shunne his companie And as he grewe in yeares so did he also increase in malice and wickednes and ranne without raine or bridle euen as his outragious mynd caried him into all kindes of mischiefe He had two sisters the one called Francis the other Ginoccia which were also dissolute and light of behauiour and specially Ginoccia which was wholly geuen to vaintie and superfluous decking of her selfe And yet had she euermore a care to keepe the virginitie of her bodie which she did rather for feare of shame in the wordle then for anie feare or loue of God Which thing was no small griefe to their mother Rabes who being a woman that feared God and tendred much the soules health of her daughters went on a daie to the holie maid and declaring the state of her daughters besought her for Gods loue that she would bee so good as to come with her and geue them some godlie exhortation The holie maid which had euermore a passing great desire to wynne soules to God went with the gentlewoman with a verie good will and did as she was required And her wordes so wrought in the hartes of those two yong maidens that they gaue ouer all the vanities of the wordle and tooke the habite of S. Dominicke Ginoccia foorth with and Francis soone after In the which rule and discipline they liued a verie streight and rigorous life
good men became a newe man and liued in the state of matrimonie a verie quiet and orderlie life to the great comfort of his frindes and example of vertue to as manie as chaunced to conuerse with him How the holie maid obteined by praier the conuersion of a gentleman called Nannes Chap. 13. THere was in the cittie of Siena a worshipful gentleman called Nannes de Vannis which bare a great swaie emong the people by reason that as he was a verie fierce and warlike man so he was also of a meruelous suttle and craftie wit to deale in wordlie affaires This Nannes with the rest of his familie allies and frindes mainteined a faction and perpetual quarrel against certaine other families in the cittie who dreading his power and policie sought by meanes and with great submission to make their peace with him He made them answere that it was all one to him whether they had peace or no peace and that for his owne part he was verie readie and willing to come to accord if they could wynne certaine other to it to whome it apperteined as well as to him selfe And thus he gaue them verie faire wordes and put them in hope of peace but in the meane tyme he dealt secretly with those other persones willing them to stand stiffely to it and in no wise to condescend to anie condicions of peace This matter came to the eares of the holie maid which seeing herein a goodlie occasion ministred vnto her of working a verie charitable worke sought by manie meanes to speake with him But euermore when he vnderstood that she was comyng towardes him he fled from her euen as the serpent is wont to flee from the enchantour that cometh to charme him At the length by the importunitie of a certaine holie Heremite of S. Augustines order called brother VVilliam an English man they wonne so much of him that he was content to heare the holie maid speake but yet with this protestation that whatsoeuer she said concernyng the accord he was fixed and would not be remoued And with this resolution he went to the holie maides house at a tyme when she was abrode by a verie vrgent occasion of procuring the health of soules But Doctour Raimundus by the prouidence of God was there at that tyme who vnderstanding that Nannes was comyng was verie glad of it for he knewe that the holie maid had a great desire to speake with him Wherefore he went out to meete with him and to geue him enterteinement vntill her returne When they were come into the house Doctour Raimundus lead him the waie into the holie maides chapple or oratorie where he caused him to sit downe and ministred such talke vnto him as he thought most conuenient to protracte the tyme. But after that they had sate there a litle while and sawe that she came not Nannes thought the tyme long and therefore began to breake with Doctour Raimundus after this maner Father said he I promised brother VVilliam that I would come hither and speake with the holie maid But now seeing she is abrode about some other busines and I haue at this present certaine affaires that must needes be dispatched out of hand I praie you excuse me vnto her and tell her that I would gladly haue spoken with her if she had ben at home Doctour Raimundus was verie sorie that the holie maid came not awaie Howbeit to wynne yet a litle more tyme he tooke occasion to enter in talke with him concernyng the peace and asked him how the matter stood betweene such and such persones Whereunto he made answere after this maner Father said he to you that are a priest and religious and to this blessed maid of whome I heare report of great vertue and holines I will make no lie but tell you plainely and syncerely how the case standeth betweene these men True it is that I am he that letteth this accord and agreement though in deed it seeme otherwise because the matter is openly contriued by others I alone do priuily mainteine and vphold one side and if I alone would geue my consent to the peace the matter were ended But to tell you my meanyng in fewe wordes my peace shal be made and firmed with the blood of myne aduersaries This is my resolution and from this I will not be remoued Wherefore I praie you set your hartes at rest and trouble me no more And with that he rose vp and tooke his leaue to depart But Doctour Raimundus was verie loth to let him goe and therefore though he sawe that he was vnwilling to tarrie there and for that cause loth also to heare anie moe wordes of that or anie other matter yet did he to gaine more tyme aske him diuerse and sundrie questions and by that meanes held him there so long that the holie maid was come home and entred into the house before he could get out of the oratorie When Nannes sawe the holie maid he was sorie that he had taried so long But she was right glad to see him there and bad him welcome after a verie charitable and louing maner and caused him to sit downe againe And when he was sette she asked him the cause of his comyng He made her answere and declared so much in effecte as he had declared before to Doctour Raimundus adding his protestation withal that concernyng that matter of the peace he would abide no talke for he was resolutely bent to the contrarie The holie maid hearing that began to exhort him to brotherlie loue and concord and shewed him withal what a dangerous and damnable state they were in that liued out of charitie But he gaue but a deaffe eare to her wordes Which thing she perceaued well inough and therefore she sate still and spake no more to him but casting vp her eyes and hart to God she besought him of grace and mercie for that hard harted man When Doctour Raimundus which had euermore a diligent eye to the holie maid had espied that he spake some wordes to Nannes to occupie him the while nothing doubting but that she should worke some better effecte in him by that silent praier then both he and she had done before with manie wordes And so it prooued in deed for within a litle tyme after he spake to them both after this maner It shall not be said of me that I am so hard and vntractable that I will haue myne owne mynd in all thinges and relent in nothing I will condescend to your mynd in some one thing and then I will take my leaue of you I haue fower quarels in the cittie of the which I am content to put one into your handes Doe in it what you shall thinke good make you my peace and I will abide your order With that he rose vp and would haue gone his waie But in the rising being inwardly touched he said these wordes to him selfe O Lord what comfort is this that I feele at this instant in
my soule vpon the only namyng of this word peace And soone after he said againe O Lord O God what vertue or strength is this that holdeth and draweth me after this sort I haue no power to goe hence I can denie you nothing that you require me O Lord ô Lord what thing maie this be that thus enforceth me And with that he burst out into weeping and said I am quite ouerthrowen I am not able to make anie longer resistance Then sodainly he cast him selfe downe at the holie maides feete and with meruelous great submission and aboundance of teares said these wordes O blessed maid I am readie to doe whatsoeuer you commaund me not only in this matter of peace but also in all other thinges whatsoeuer they be Hitherto I knowe well the deuel hath lead me vp and downe fast tied in his chaine but now I am resolued to folowe you whether soeuer it shall please you to lead me And therefore I praie you for charities sake be you my guide and teach me how I maie deliuer my soule out of his bandes At those wordes the holie maid turned to him and said Brother our Lord be thanked that you are now through his great mercie come to vnderstand in how dangerous a state you stood I spake to you concernyng your soules health and you made light of my wordes I spake to our Lord touching the same matter and he was content to heare me My aduise therefore is that you do penance for your synnes in tyme for feare of some sodaine calamitie that maie fall vpon you which finding you vnprouided maie otherwise beare you downe and quite ouerwhelme you This gentleman was so inwardly striken with these wordes of the holie maid that he went foorthwith to Doctour Raimundus and made a generall Confession of all his synnes with great sorrowe and contrition And so when he had made his peace with almightie God by the aduise of Doctour Raimundus and vertue of the holie Sacrament of penance he was content likewise to submit himselfe to the order of the holie maid and according to her direction and arbitrement to make a firme peace with all his aduersaries Within a fewe daies after this Mannes was thus conuerted it chaunced that he was taken by the gouernour of the citie and cast into a streight prison for certaine outrages that he had committed before And it was commonly talked emong the people that he should be put to death The which when Doctour Raimundus vnderstood he came to the holie maid with a heauie cheere and said Loe mother so long as Mannes serued the deuel so long did all thinges goe prosperously with him But now sence the tyme that he began to serue God we see the wordle is wholly bent against him This sodaine alteration putteth me in great doubt and feare of the man lest being as yet but a yong and tender branch he should be broken of by the violence of this storme and so fall into despaire Wherefore I beseech you hartely good mother commmend his state to God in your praiers And as you haue by your mediation deliuered him from euerlasting death so doe your endeuour also to deliuer him from this temporall and imminent danger To that the holie maid made answere Father said she whie take you this matter so heauily Me thinketh you should rather be glad of it for by this you maie conceiue a verie sure hope that our Lord hath pardoned him all his synnes and changed those euerlasting paines that were due to him for the same into these temporall afflictions When he was of the wordle the wordle made much of him as one that was his owne But nowe sence he began to spoorne at the wordle no meruaile if the wordle do likewise kicke at him againe As for the feare that you haue lest he being ouerlaied with these calamities should fall into despaire be of good comfort and assure your selfe that the mercifull goodnes of our Lord that hath deliuered him out of the deepe dongeon of hell will not suffer him to perish in prison And as she said so it prooued in deed For within a fewe daies after he was deliuered out of prison His life was in deed spared but for that they set a great fyne of money on his head Whereof the holie maid was nothing sorie but rather glad for said she our Lord hath mercifully taken awaie from him tha poison with the which he had before and might agine haue poisoned him selfe So soone as this Mannes was thus deliuered he like a gratefull gentleman ascribing the benefite both of his foremer recouerie out of synne and also of this his deliuerie out of prison to the merites and praier of the holie maid made a deed of gyfte to her of a goodlie palace that he had four myles from the citie Of the which by licence of Pope Grogorie the eleuenth she made a monasterie for her spirituall daughters the sisters of penance and dedicated it to our blessed Ladie and in the honour of her named the place Our Lord of Angels And he after this happie conuersion was wholly directed by doctour Raimundus and lead a verie blessed life What a wonderfull grace the holie maid had in making exhortations and conuerting soules to God Chap. 14. EMong a nomber of strange gyftes that were in this holie maid one was a meruelous singular grace that she had in drawing the hartes of men vnto God not only with the wordes that she spake vnto them but also with her onlie presence And in this she so much passed all that we read or heare reported of other great Sainctes that it might seeme incredible but that it pleased almightie God to make it knowen to the wordle by diuerse and sundrie effectes wrought in such sort that they could not be couered Manie tymes as she was passing from place to place the people came out from all sides by hundreds and thousandes to see her of the which great nombers were wonne to God by her godlie exhortations and went foorthwith to be confessed of their synnes with great sorrowe and contrition Of the which thing when Pope Gregorie the eleuenth was enformed by the report of credible persones to further her charitable trauaile in winnyng of sowles to God he made her a speciall graunt by his bull or letter patent that she might haue alwaies three learned confessours about her vnto whome he gaue authoritie to absolue from all kindes of synne in as ample maner as anie bishop hath within his diocese And those three confessors were so thoroughly occupied by reason of the great multitudes that were turned to God by her meanes that Doctur Raimundus who was one of the three and euermore assistant to her reported both of him selfe and of the other two also that manie tymes they sate in confession from morning to night without anie bodilie recreation or refection yea and sometymes when night came had scantly so much leisure as to receiue a litle sustenance
The which when the holie maid perceiued she gaue charge to the rest that were about her that they should haue a care of the confesssours and prouide them of thinges necessarie Which was in deed verie requisite for they were so intentiue to their spirituall haruest and tooke such a passing inward delite to see the wonderfull increase that almightie God had sent in all places where they trauailed with the holie maid that they liue mynded either meat or drincke or anie thing els belongyng to the bodie And when all bodilie recreations failed it was no small recreation and comfort to them to see the holie maid her selfe what a spirituall Iubilee she kept and how her hart did as it were leape and daunce for ioye when she sawe such nombers of soules to leaue the broade waies of their accustomed synfull life and now by her direction to walke in the narrowe pathes of Gods holie commandements And as the wordes of the holie maid had a wonderfull vertue and strenght in drawing the hartes of such as were present and might heare her speake so had she also a singular gyfte of perswasion in her writinges to them that were absent and might not heare her wordes as it maie appeere by her letters writen with a meruelous heauenlie grace and eloquence to Popes and Cardinalls to Kinges and Princes to Bishops and Prelates to Lordes and Rulers to communities and common weales to Magisitates and priuate citisens to religious persones both men and women and also to diuerse and sundrie secular persones And such was her zeale and charitable affection towardes all kindes of men that whether they were present or absent she omitted not to doe good where soeuer occasion was ministred How the holie maid made manie goodlie sermons or collations in the presence of Pope Gregorie and afterwardes likewise in the presence of Pope Vrbanus and his Cardinals Cap. 15. AFter that this chosen vessell of God was apointed to shewe her selfe to the wordle as is before declared to beare the name of Christ before kinges and rulers and all other states of men and women she made diuerse and sundrie sermons in the presence of Pope Gregorie the eleuenth with such a wonderfull grace eloquence and authoritie that the Pope him selfe and all that were about him were astoined to heare her And afterwardes being required by Pope Vrbanus his successour to doe the like in open consistorie she made such a wonderfull and dreadfull oration concerning the particular prouidence of God ouer his Church and ouer the head pastour of the same whom she declared to be the said Pope Vrbanus the sixt affirming constantly before them all that she vnderstood so much by a most certaine reuelation from God and she rebuked both the pope and all his Cardinals with such a constant boldnes for their base myndes and lacke of manlie courage in Gods cause that they were all enforced to confesse that it was not she that spake but the spirite and wisedome of God in her Whereupon Pope Vrbanus turning him selfe to the rest said these wordes Behold brethren how contemptible we are become in the sight of God for being thus fearefull in his cause Our Lord hath sent here a seelie woman to controll and reproach vs of cowardise I call her a seelie woman not for anie defecte that I note in her but only to expresse the frailtie of her sexe or kind which as you knowe is naturally more subiecte to feare then we are It would be thought in this case that she as a woman should be timorous and we manlie and stoute But we see nowe that we are faint harted and deiected and she contrariwise verie full of manlie courage and comfort It is surely a great shame and reproach to vs all that we haue need to be comforted at this tyme by a woman Howbeit seeing it is the will of God to send vs such a comforter let vs accept it especially considering that her wordes are most true which are that the vicare of Christ ought not to feare though the whole wordle should set them selues in armes against him for so much as almightie God who hath taken the charge and protection of him is stronger then the wordle When the pope had said these wordes he turned him selfe to the holie maid and gaue her a verie graue testimonie of vertue and holines And when he had so done he opened the treasure of the Church and gaue manie spirituall graces both to her and to them that were there with her Manie other collations did she make in places where occasion was ministred to edifie soules to the great profit and comfort of them that heard her as it maie appeere in part by some thinges that are alreadie declared in this booke before and more by this present matter and some other thinges that shal be declared hereafter 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 condicions of peace in her owne hand Chap. 16. ABout the yeare of our Lord 1375. the citie of Florence which had in foretymes shewed it selfe euermore loiall and obedient to the Sea Apostolike being moued partly by the instigation of certaine euell disposed citizens that were in authoritie and partly also as it was thought by the lewd demeanour of some insolent persones that bare office in the Church began to withdrawe their obedience and to ioyne them selues with the enemies of the Church By reason whereof there ensued a general reuolt in Italie almost of all the territories that belonged to the Sea Apostolike which were at that tyme as it is reported to the nomber of three score cities and ten thousand walled townes Pope Gregorie the eleuenth seeing that proceeded against the Florentines by waie of excommunication whereof it came to passe that their merchantes and trauailers wheresoeuer they went were taken robbed and spoiled in all places and debarred of all trafficke with other nations The which smart and losse of temporal goods so pinched them that they were enforced to seeke all possible meanes how they might be reconciled to the Popes holines againe And because they vnderstood that the holie maid was in great credite and fauour with the Pope by reason of her vertue and holines the lordes and principal rulers of the cittie thought good that Doctour Raimundus her Confessour should be sent before as it were to make her waie And that done they sent for the holie maid also And when she was come almost to the cittie of Florence they went out against her to receiue her with all honour and besought her for Gods loue that she would take the paines to goe to Auinion where the Pope was then resident and to entreate him to condescend to certaine reasonable condicions or peace The holie maid had such a passing desire to make peace that she cast no doubt neither of the trauaile and tediousnes of the long iourney nor yet of the effecte
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
vnderstanding perfectly the state of her soule he knewe right well that such wordes in her came not of anie inordinate heat or passion of the mynd but only of a verie perfecte and pure zeale that she had to the honour of God and aduancement of his Church The reformation of the which she so much tēdred that manie tymes whē she made hir praiers vnto God for the same she would beseech him in most hartie maner that she might die for it in extremitie of paines and tormentes and that she might afterwardes be restored to life againe and so die againe and againe so oftentymes as should be thought sufficient for the obteyning of that blessed reformation that she so earnestly longed after Verie manie tymes being in praier she would vtter these wordes with a passing great feruour of spirite O Lord let all the partes of my bodie all my bones all the marowe within my bones be beaten and pounded together in a morter only restore thy holie Church againe to her comelines and beautie And though the whole state of her life were in deed a verie martyrdome yet had she such a longyng and impatient desire to shead her blood for the loue she bare to Christ and his Church that all her wordes and deedes seemed after a sort to tend to it as it maie appeere by a letter that she wrote to Doctour Raimundus concernyng the same matter In the which it is to be seene what a passing delite she tooke in iterating these wordes againe and againe blood blood Iesus Iesus How the holie maid made a final exhortation to her spiritual children and so passed out of this life Chap. 22. WHen the holie maid vnderstood by reuelation from God that her tyme drewe neere in the which she should passe out of this wordle she called all her spiritual children about her both men and women and to them all in general she made a meruelous godlie and excellent sermon exhorting them to goe forward constantly in their purposed waie of vertue vntill they came to the perfection of the same And in this sermon she expressed manie notable pointes of doctrine which I thought good to touch briefely in this place for the direction of all such as mind to walke perfectly and not to erre in the streight patthes of a true Christian life The first and most principal point of her doctrine as it were the ground-worke of all her exhortation was this To a man that cometh vnfeinedly to the seruice of God and myndeth in deed to possesse God perfectly it is necessarie that he do vtterly spoile his hart and make it naked and bare of all sensible loue not only of all persones but also of all creatures whatsoeuer they be and being so spoiled that he do earnestly bend him selfe towardes God his Creatour with a single and whole hart For the hart said she can not be wholly offred vp to God vnlesse it be free from all other loue and withal open and simple without all doublenes And she declared vnto them that her principal labour studie euen from her childhood to her dying daie had ben to atteine to the perfection of this point Item she said that no man can possibly come to such state of perfectiō as to be able to offer vp his hart to God freely and wholly without anie let or encombrance vnlesse he seeke it at Gods hand by praier And she said withal that it is necessarily required in praier that it be grounded vpon humilitie and that the man that myndeth to obteine anie thing by praier must haue no cōfidence in anie vertue or merite of his owne but only in the goodnes of God reputing him selfe as nothing in the sight of God And she added furthermore that she had ben alwaies careful and diligent to geue her selfe to praier that she might haue a cōtinual habite of the same because she sawe that of praier all vertues receiue their increase strength as contrariwise without praier all vertues decaie fall quite awaie And for this cause she exhorted them to geue them selues earnestly cōtinually to the exercise of praier And here she declared vnto them that there were two kindes of praier the one called vocal the other mental that these two kindes were to be vsed the one at tymes appointed in saying or singyng the Canonical howers and Church-seruice the other at all tymes either in acte so long as it might be done with discretion or els in will and desire when it might no longer be continued actually Item she said that she sawe cleerely by the light of a liuely faith that whatsoeuer happened to her selfe or others in this life came all from God not of anie hatred that he had to anie but of a passing great loue that he bare to his creatures And thereof she conceiued a certaine loue and readines to obey the cōmaundments both of God and also of her superiours so taking their commaundments as though they had come immediately from the mouth of God either for the necessitie of her saluation or els for the increase of vertue in her soule Item she said that whosoeuer is desirous to come to a cleane and pure state of mynd must of necessitie refraine him selfe from all iudging of others and from speaking vainely of the doings of others and looke only to the will of God in all his creatures which doth or permitteth all thinges to a good end And for this cause she charged them verie effectually that they should neuer iudge anie person that is they should not by waie of iudgement despise or condemne anie persone though they sawe euidently with their eyes some synne committed but contrariwise if the synne were manifest they should haue cōpassion on the partie that had offended praie to God for his amendment And cōcernyng this point she added thus much not as of her self but as a most vndoubted truth receiued at Gods owne mouth that manie persones for not obseruing this precept had failed of their final intended perfection in spiritual life which otherwise for a nomber of excellent vertues that were in them might haue prooued great Sainctes Item she said that she had alwaies reposed a verie great hope and affiance in the prouidence of God and so she exhorted them to doe affirmyng that she had tried by experience that the prouidence of God was passing great and neuer failed them that put their trust in him The which thing both she and manie other that kept her companie had seene verified oftentymes by verie certaine and euident miracles These and manie other goodlie pointes of doctrine she vttered vnto them and in the end she concluded her long exhortation with that precept of our Sauiour Christ exhorting them verie humbly and withal verie earnestly that they should loue one an other My deere children said she loue one an other This saying she repeated againe and againe after a meruelous sweet and louelie maner and did what she could to
ghostlie enemie For sometymes she held her peace and sometymes she made answere as it were to some demaund Sometymes she smyled as though she had scorned his reasons and sometymes she rose in choler Emong other thinges one word she spake which was noted of as manie as were present And surelie it maie well be thought that it was the will of God that she should vtter it When she had held her peace a pretie while at the length setting a pleasant countenance vpon it she made answere as it were to some slaunder that the enemie charged her withal saying Vaine glorie Neuer but only the true glorie and honour of God Which wordes were not spoken without a special prouidence of God to remoue a sinister opinion conceiued of her not only in the wordle but also in manie deuout and spiritual persones who seeing her passing sweet and charitable demeanour towardes all kindes of men and withal how readie and desirous she was not only to receiue exhort and comfort all such as resorted to her at home but also to trauaile into farre and strange countreis to extend her charitie to as manie as was possible doubted somewhat that in these thinges she might either seeke the praise of men or at the least take some delite in it when she heard her selfe praysed But Doctour Raimundus who being her ghostlie Father heard her Confession both general and special oftentymes and considered of all her doinges with great warines and aduisement gaue her this testimonie with a solemne protestation that he iudged verily and tooke it vpon his conscience that whatsoeuer she did in that kind she did it by special inspiration and commaundment from God and that she did not so much as thinke either vpon the praises of men or vpon the men them selues but only when she praied to God for them or did some other charitable woorke to the edifying of their soules But now to come to our matter againe whē the holie maid had thus fought a long combat with the ghostlie enemie and had in the end through the grace and assistance of God obteined a full and final victorie ouer him comyng to her selfe againe she made a general Confession not Sacramentally but openly saying Confiteor as the maner is and so required the general absolution to be likewise pronounced ouer her That done it was sensibly perceiued that all the powers of her bodie decaied foorthwith by litle and litle The which notwithstanding she ceased not to exhort and speake comfortable wordes not only to them that were there about her but also to other that were absent Emong others she shewed her selfe to haue a verie special remembrance and care of Doctour Raimundus vnto whom she willed them all to haue recourse in all their doubtes and distresses for spiritual counsel Commend me to him said she and bid him to be of good comfort and not to faint or feare whatsoeuer betide For I will be with him and will from tyme to tyme deliuer him from all dangers And if he chaunce at anie tyme to doe otherwise then he should doe I will geue him discipline These wordes she repeated againe and againe vntill her speach began at the length to faile her Last of all when the verie throwes of death came vpon her she said these wordes Lord into thy handes I commend my spirite And with that she gaue vp the Ghost in the yeare of her age 33. of our Lord. 1380. the 29. daie of April which as then was sondaie and the feast of S. Peter the Martyr about eight of the clocke before noone THE FOWRTH PART 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. AT what tyme the holie maid passed out of this life doctour Raimundus her confessour chaunced to be in the citie of Genua about such a affaires as his office required being then the prouincial of his Order in those partes And bicause there was a general chapter appointed to be kept at Bolonia within a fewe daies after for the choosing of a newe general doctour Raimundus with certain other doctours brethren made them selues readie to passe by water from thence to Pisa and so to Bolonia And when they had hyred a boate they taried for a good wind which as then did not serue in that meane tyme vpon S. Peters daie in the mornyng which is a solemne daie emong the Friers preachers bicause he was a great martyr and of their Order doctour Raimundus went downe from his cell to the Church to saie Masse And when Masse was done he returned backe againe to the dorter to set him selfe in order towardes his iourney Where passing by the image of our ladie he said an Aue Maria softly to him selfe as the maneris and staied a litle while And sodainly there was framed a strange voice if it maie be called a voice which expressed verie distinctly and plainely certaine wordes not outwardly to his bodilie eare but inwardly to his hart The wordes were these Be not afraid I am here for thee I am in heauen for thee I will protect and defend thee Stand fast without care and feare not I stand here for thee Doctor Raimundus hearing or rather conceiuing those wordes in deed more liuely expressed to this mynd then if they had ben pronounced by the voice of anie man was much astoined and began to cast with him selfe what maner of comfort and warrant of securitie that might be and from whence he might thinke that it came And bicause he was then doing a litle worke in the honour of our blessed Ladie he began to thinke whether it might not be she that had geuen him those comfortable wordes Howbeit considering his owne vnworthines he durst not presume so much Then it came to his mynd that there might be some great trouble towardes him for the which cause he praied to our blessed Ladie the mother of mercie whome he knewe to be a special comforter of all afflicted persones that she would vouchsafe by that her comfortable promise to make him more warie circunspecte and readie to beare whatsoeuer it should pleased God to laie vpon him And there was some cause also whie he might suspecte such troubles the more bicause he had at that tyme preached against certaine scismatikes that were in the citie of whome he stood in some doubt that they would haue set for him to doe some mischiefe to him and his compaine as they should passe betweene Genua Pisa And so at that tyme he could not vnderstand what that voice should be what it should meane or whence it should come But afterwardes when he came to Tuscan and heard them there tell of the tyme and maner of the holie maides departure he called this strange voice to mynd againe and sawe by the computation of
the tyme that these wordes were spoken to him at that verie hower when the holie maid passed out of this wordle to God Wherefore he gaue most hartie thankes both to our Lord and also to his blessed spouse S. Catherine for the great grace and comfort that they had vouchsafed to send him 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. IT was reuealed to the holie maid as she declared secretiy to doct Raimundus to doct Thomas her confessour also that in the kingdome of heauen she should haue the blessed virgin S. Agnes of mount Politian for her companinion and be placed there in equal degree with her Wherupon she bare a verie special deuotion to S. Agnes and therefore besought her confessours that they would geue her licence to goe thither in pilgrimage with some other of her sisters to visite the holie relikes Which request they graunted with a good will and went them selues also with her to see if almightie God would shewe anie token of his determination concernyng the afore promised felowship that should be betweene these two holie virgins When the holie maide came to the monasterie she went foorthwith accompained with the sisters of her owne retinue and most of the Nonnes of the same monasterie also to the place where S. Agnes bodie laie all whole and vnperished euen as it was the first daie that it was laid there And comyng to the holie shryne she kneeled downe vpon the ground and bowed her head with great reuerence and deuotion to kisse the feete But the dead bodie of S. Agnes as it were refusing that honour of her companion lifted vp one foote in the presence of them al so high that she might haue kissed it without bowing downe either bodie or head The which thing when the holie maid sawe she humbled her selfe the more stooped downe with greater reuerence And so S. Agnes bodie drewe her legge downe againe and set it as it was before This miracle it pleased almightie God to worke at that tyme to the honour of those two blessed virgins in the presence of all the aforesaid sisters of penance and Nonnes of the same monasterie And yet there lacked not some one or two emong them that did what in them laie to depraue the maner of the miracle Which turned in the end by the disposition of God to the further setting out of the same For the next daie when doctour Raimundus with the rest of his companie came thither which by occasion had staied behind hearing by the common brute what a strange worke had ben wrought there to the honour of God and of the two blessed virgins and vnderstanding withall that there was one or two euill disposed women amonge them that wente about to discredit the matter sayinge that the holie mayde had done it by art magicke or otherwise by some sleyghte of the deuill he called the whole couent of Nonnes together before him by vertu of a commission graunted to him by the General of that prouince and charged them all in the vertu of of their obedience that they should declare what they had seene protesting to them that his desire was to vnderstand the verie truth of the matter to the glorie of God and no more nor no lesse but only the verie bare truth They made hin answere one by one and declared so much as hath ben declared here before Then he called one of thē before him that laboured to impugne the truth of the miracle and asked her whether the matter had passed in such sort as the rest had deposed And she confessed plainely before them all that it was euen so as they had said But said she S. Agnes did not worke that miracle to anie such end as you imagin To that doctour Raimundus made answere and said Deerely beloued sister we aske not you what the meaning of S. Agnes was bicause we knowe that you are neither hir secretarie nor yet of her counsel But we aske of you only whether you sawe that lifting vp of the foote and taking of it downe againe in such sort as the rest of your sisters haue declared Yea said she that can not be denied When doctour Raimundus had thus put her to some shame before the whole couent he enioyned her such penance for her offence as the order of their discipline required and he thought most expedient for the example of others An other tyme the holie maid comyng to the monasterie againe to place two of her brothers daughters there in the seruice of God the first thing that she did she went to visite the holie reliques of S. Agnes as she had done before And there went with her certaine of her owne compaine and certaine of the Nonnes of the same monasterie When she came to the place she set her selfe downe not as she had done before at the feete but at the head with great ioye and cheerefulnes and put her cheeke to the cheeke of S. Agnes which was couered with a veile of silke and there held it a good while After that she had continued so a good long space at the length she turned her selfe sodainly backe and spake to the sisters that were there present and namely to her cosen Lisa after a meruelous ioyful and humble maner saying Whie do you not consider of this great gyfte of God that is sent vs here from heauen VVherefore are you so vngrateful VVith that Lisa and the rest held vp their heades and behold they sawe a certaine Manna to wite a verie white and small graine to come downe from heauen and to couer the bodies of those two blessed virgins And this Manna fell in such abundance that Lisa filled both her handes of it and kept it afterwardes for a relike and monument for comfirmation of the truth of this great miracle The like chaunced to the holie virgin S. Agnes oftentymes in her life tyme namely when she set her selfe to praier and meditation as we read in the storie of her life which I thought good to touch briefely in this place for the comfort and satisfaction of such deuout persones as are desirous to vnderstand more of her and yet haue not peraduenture the whole storie writen specially in our tonge When the blessed virgin S. Agnes should be borne into the wordle there were a nomber of goodlie lights seene in the place where her mother trauailed lighted by the almightie power of God without anie helpe of man which continued and yealded a meruelous confortable light to as manie as were there present vntill such time as the babe was fully borne and then ceased By the which our Lord would foreshewe what a goodlie and singular light of diuerse and sundrie vertues she should geue in tyme to come to the wordle In her life tyme as she grewe in yeares so did she likewise increase in all kinde of vertue in humilitie
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
great hedach which tormented him verie sore and were as he knewe vndoubted signes of the common infection that raigned ouer the citie at that tyme. The which notwithstanding he did what he could to make an end of his diuine seruice In the mornyng calling a felowe to him he went with great paine towardes the holy maides house whether when he came he found her not at home For she was gone out to visite an other that was sicke Then being no longer able to hold vp his head he laied him selfe downe vpon a couch that was there in her house praied the sisters that they wold send for her with al speed When the holie maid came home and found him there and vnderstood in what case he was she kneeled downe by the bed and laying her hand vpon his forehead she began after her maner to lifte vp her hart to God in praier And foorthwith he sawe that she was quite abstracted from her bodilie senses rauished in sprite Which was no vnwonted sight to him nor yet vncomfortable at that tyme. For he hoped well that she should obteine some great benefite for him both of bodie and soule at Gods hand When she had continued after that maner about the space of halfe an hower he felt in him selfe a mightie alteration and stirring in euerie part of his bodie and withal a vehement prouocation towardes a vomite which he had seene to hapen before to many that had died of that disease How beit it fell not so out with him but rather contrariwise For it seemed to him that he felt sensibly how those corrupt humours that caused his paine were violently drawen from within to the vttermost partes of the bodie And certaine he was that he found present ease of his paines And before the holie maid came to her selfe againe he was fully and perfectly restored to his health sauing only that there remained a litle feeblenes in him which he thought our Lord suffred to remaine in him as a token either of the disease that was cured or els of the weakenes of his faith So soone as the holie maid had obteined this grace at Gods hand for her ghostlie father she was foorthwith restored to her bodilie senses And finding him as yet in some weakenes she willed her sisters to prouide some meate for him such as is wont to be geuen to sicke folkes The which when he had receiued at her holie hand she willed him to lie downe and rest a while and so he did And when he had rested a litle tyme he rose vp and felt him selfe as strong and in as good liking as if he had neuer ben sicke Then said the holie maid to him Father goe your waie and labour about the edifying of soules and be thankeful to almightie God that hath deliuered you out of this present danger The like miracle did the holie maid worke about the same tyme vpon father Bartilmewe of whome mention hath ben made diuerse and sundrie tymes before The miracle was much alike but the cure seemed somewhat greater biause he was both longer and also more grieuously sicke How the holie maid healed a great nomber that were sicke of other diseases after the like maner Chap. 4. AFter the tyme that this pestilence was ceased in Siena it chaunced that manie deuout and well disposed persones as well religious as others but specially certaine Nunnes of Pisa hearing the fame of the holie maid had a great desire to see her and to heare her doctrine which was reported to be and was in deed verie wonderful And because it was not lawful for many of them that had this godly inclination to come to her to Siena they sent letters and messengets to her very often beseeching her that she would take the paines to come ouer to them to Pisa And to allure her the more to take that iourney vpon her they declared vnto her what frute and gaine of soules was like to ensue by her comyng thither The holie maid though she had no desire to be from home yet being ouercome with their long importunate sute especially considering that there was great hope of winning soules to God first she asked the aduise of them that liued in house with her of the which compaine some were with her going to Pisa and some against it Then when she sawe that she could not be resolued by men she fled vnto almightie God as her maner was and besought him humbly that he would vouchsafe to make her to vnderstand what his will and pleasure was that she should doe in that case And it came to passe after certaine daies that our Lord appeered to her and willed her that she should accomplish the godlie request of those his seruantes hand maides in Pisa without delaie Wherupon she went to her ghostelie father and declaring thus much to him besought him like an obedient daughter that he would geue her licence to doe as she was willed by God He assented willingly to her demaund and went him selfe with her and with him two other of his brethren to heare the confessions of such as should resort vnto her according to a graunt made to her by Pope Gregorie the eleuenth When she came to Pisa she lodged in the house of an honest citizen called maister Gerardus where on a daie there was presented vnto her a certaine younge man of the age of twentie yeares or there about which had ben sore vexed with a quotidian ague for the space of a yeare and halfe and neuer missed one daie And though there were no fit of an ague vpon him at that tyme yet might she see that he had ben long sicke For whereas he was by constitution of bodie a verie strong and lustie yong man he was now brought so lowe that he had neither flesh strength nor colour And no medicine could be found that would doe him good Wherfore they entreated the holie maid that she would commend his lamentable state to God in her praier The holie maid pitied his case verie much and asked him how long it was sence he was last confessed To that he answered and said that it was a good manie yeares Yea said she and that is the cause whie our Lord hath laied this discipline vpon you bicause yee would not clense your soule in all this tyme by confession Wherfore deere sonne see that yee goe out of hand to confession and rid your selfe of these sinnes that haue infected you both bodie and soule With that she caused Doctour Thomas her owne confessour to be called and deliuered the yong man to him willing him to heare his confession That done the yong man returned to her againe and she laied her hand vpon his shoulder and said these wordes Sonne goe your waie with the peace of our Lord Iesus Christ For I will not that these agues trouble you anie more She said and it was done for the almightie power of him spake in her who said and it
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