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 cast awaie and I will make bread of it for the poore Alexia did as she was willed Then the holie maid tooke it of her and made past of it and of the past made such a deale of bred and that also so quickely that Alexia her seruant that beheld her al the time were astoined to see it for they thought verily that there could not haue ben made so manie loaues of fower or fiue tymes so much meale as the holie maid deliuered out of her handes to Alexia to laie vpon bordes and carrie to the ouen And which was most meruelous there was no euel sauour in those loaues as there was in all other made of the same corne But when they were baked and set on the table to eate they that eate of them could find no maner of bitternes or euel tast in them but rather said that they had not in their life tyme eaten better and more sauorie bread This miracle being spread in the citie doctour Thomas her confessour came with certaine other learned men of his brethren to examine the matter and found in verie deed that there were two great miracles wrought one in augmēting the quantitie of the past and an other in amending the euel qualitie and stench of the corne And the third miracle was added soone after which was that wheras the same bread was verie liberally dealt out to the poore and none other eaten in the house but that yet there remained euermore great store of it in the hutch And so it continued manie daies and weekes Which moued certaine deuout persones that vnderstood the truth of the matter to take some of the said bread and to laie it vp reuerently where it might be kept for a relique and perpetual remembrance of the great worke that almightie God had wrought by his deere spowse After wardes Doctour Raimundus being desirous to be more particularly infourmed of the matter by the holie maid praied her one a tyme in secret talke that she would declare vnto him for his satisfaction how and in what order the thing had passed And she made him answere simply after this maner Father said she I had a great zeale that the thing that God had sent vs for the reliefe of man should not be lost And I had withal a great compassion on the poore Wherupon I went to the hutch of meale with a great feruour of spirite So soone as I was there behold our blessed Ladie was there likewise with me accompanied with a nomber of Sainctes and Angels and bad me to goe foreward with my worke as I had determined And she was so benigne and charitable that she vouchsafed to labour with me and to worke the past with her owne handes and so by the vertue of her holie handes were those loaues multiplied in such sort as yee haue heard for she made the loaues and gaue them to me and I deliuered them from me to Alexia and her seruant Truly mother said doctour Raimundus I maruaile not now if that bread seemed to me and others that tasted of it passing sweet considering that it was made with the handes of that most heauenlie glorious Queene in whose sacred bodie was wrought and made by the holie Trinitie that liue bread that came downe from heauen to geue life to all true beleeuers How the holie maid multiplied bread an other tyme in Rome for the prouision of her familie Chap. 6. AT what tyme the holie maid came to Rome by commaundement of Pope Vrbanus the sixt she had in her companie to the nomber of fower and twentie persones to wite sixtene men and eight women Which folowed her almost against her will some to visite the holie places in Rome and some to get certaine spiritual graces of the Popes holines but all as her ghostlie children to be trained by her in the rules of spiritual life Besides these there came to the citie at that tyme a nomber of good and godlie men which bicause they were sent for by the Pope at the holie maides motion instance resorted vnto her and lodged in her house And though she neither had nor would haue anie thing for the reliefe of her selfe and al her familie but only what she receiued of pure almes yet was she so liberal and free of hart had such a loue to hospitalitie that she made no difference betweene receiuing one man and one hundred for she doubted not but had a full trust and affiance in God that he would prouide for them all For the better perfourmance wherof she tooke this order emong her women that they should be stewardes in the house by course one after an other euerie weeke so that one of them was euermore occupied about the prouision of meate drincke other thinges that the rest might the more freely intend their pilgrimages other holie exercises for the which they were come to the citie And bicause the bread that they eate was all of almes she gaue them charge that whosoeuer was steward for the weeke should alwaies signifie to her a daie before the bread was all spent that she might send some other of the sisters or goe her selfe to begge more One tyme it chaunced that one of the sisters called Ione being steward in her course lacked bread and yet forgat to signifie so much to the holie maid vntill the verie hower of dyner was come Then remembring her selfe and being ashamed of her negligence she went to the holie maid with a heauie cheere confessed her fault Ah sister said she God forgeue you Wherefore haue you brought vs to this distresse contrarie to the order that I gaue you Behould our familie is now verie hungrie they haue fasted long And where shall we find so much bread of a sodaine as may suffice thē al To that sister Ione could saie nothing els but only acknowleged her forgetfulnes and cried her mercie VVell said the holie maid cause them to sit downe at the table Alas said she there is not bread inough for fower persones whatsoeuer there is said the holie maid will them to goe to dyner and to begynne with that litle that is vntill God send more And with that she went her selfe to praier Then sister Ione according as she was commaunded caused them to sit downe and set that smal prouision that was of bread and other thinges before them They fell to their meate gridily for they vsed to fast verie much that daie they had taried for their dyner longer then they were wont to doe and thought in deed that they should soone dispatch that short pitance But our Lord at the instance of the holie maid so wrought in that bread that they cut soppes into their potage and eate euerie man so much as sufficed and yet was the bread nothing diminished but rather increased Wherat when they were all astoined they asked what the holie maid was in doing And vnderstanding that she was earnestly occupied in praier they
the caue would suffer her to rise And so she continued from mornyng till noone But whē she perceiued that she was thus lifted vp from the earth she began to feare and to suspecte that it might be some deceite of the ghostlie enemie whose drifte might be by this meane to put her in feare and so to hinder her designement of going into the wildernes And therfore she set her selfe to praie more feruently and to abase her self more and more before God Wherevpon about that verie hower that our Sauiour after his passion was taken downe from the Crosse it pleased his diuine maiesty that she likewise should descend by litle and litle in like maner as she had ascended And he made her to vnderstand by his secret inspiration that the tyme was not yet come in the which she should forsake her fathers howse and put her bodie to such penance and affliction Wherfore she was in mynd to returne home againe But when she came foorth and sawe her selfe all alone and beheld the gate of the citie which seemed to be so farre off that she douted her weake and feeble bodie would neuer be able to endure so long a iourney fearing also lest her father and mother should thinke that she had ben lost she set her selfe againe to praier and cōmitted the matter wholly to God who failed not to supplie the weakenes of his litle hand maid and sent a litle clowd which tooke her vp from the grownd and carying her in the ayer set her in a verie short tyme in the gate of the citie from whence she went with all speed home to her Father and mother who suspected nothing at all of anie such matter but thought she had ben with her sister Bonauentura How shee vowed her virginitie vnto almightie God Chap. 4. SVch was the vertue and operation of this afore mentioned reuelation that it drewe al wordlie loue and affection out of the hart of this yong maid and wrought in the same a certaine holie loue to the Sonne of God only and to his most glorious mother the virgin Marie And this loue was so great that she accounted all the delites and pleasures of this wordle as verie durt and dong in comparison of her sweet spowse Iesus Christ Moreouer being now seuen yeares old she had learned only by the inward instructiō of the holie Ghost in her hart that is was a goodly state of life withal verie acceptable vnto God to liue in all puritie cleannes both of bodie and sowle She had learned also that our blessed Ladie the most pure vnspotted mother of God was the first that dedicated her selfe by vowe to serue God in that most cleane and perfecte state of virginitie And therfore she thought it most expedient for the obteinyng of that grace to make her humble suite to her who had before al others obteined the same at Gods hand for her selfe and vndoubtedly for all those that should afterwardes require it at her hand with the like humilitie and earnest desire Being therfore of the age of seuen yeares she set her selfe verie grauely sadly to take aduisement what order of life was best for her to take and for the better resolution in that point she praied to our blessed Ladie queene of Angels and virgins that it would please her to make intercession to her deere Sonne that he would vowchsafe to teach her by the instincte of his spirite what waie she might best take that were most to his glorie and to her sowles health Our blessed Ladie mother of pitie and comfort by whose gracious mocion this holie desire was first planted in her hart heard the discrete demaund of this wise yong virgin and answered her iust request First with a dailie increase of greater desire longing after the thing requested which was to knowe how she might order her life to be most acceptable vnto God then also with a resolution from God certifying her by secret inspiration in her hart that his will and pleasure was that she should serue him with all purity both of bodie and sowle in the state of virginitie The which when she vnderstood she suffred not that heauenlie fyer enkendled in her hart to be quenched nor to slake but being wholly inflamed with the loue of that most excellent and goodlie maner of life she chose out a secret place in the howse farre from the conuersation of all persones where she might with the more freedome of spirite offer vp her praiers and vowes to almightie God and there composing her selfe both in bodie and mynd with all humilitie she made her praier after this maner O most blessed Ladie O most glorious and sacred virgin mother of God which before all other women diddest by vowe consecrate thy virginitie vnto God becamest therby so gratious in his sight that he would haue his only Sonne to be borne of thee I most humbly beseech thee trusting not in anie merites of myne owne but only in thyne vnspeakable pitie that thou wilt vowchsafe to obteine me such grace and fauour with thy only begotē Sōne that frō this day foreward I may take him for the lawful deerly belowed spowse of my sowle And I here geue my faith and promise both to him and to thee that I shall neuer take other spowse but shall by the assistance of his holie grace doe what in me lieth to keepe my selfe a true and vndefiled virgin to him alone Thus praied this yong handmaid of Christ with great lowlines and feruencie of of spirite And her praier was heard her vowe accepted and she receiued to be the vndefiled spowse of the vnspotted lambe of God Iesus Christ The which thing when she vnderstood as she did by and by by the inward inspiration of the holie Ghost being replenished with a certaine holie feare she emploied her whole care and studie how she might best keepe her selfe chast true to her deere spowse And though as yet she felt no motion to vncleannes in her flesh yet to prouide like a wise womā for the tyme to come she began euen in those tender yeares to tame her bodie with fasting watching abstinence from all deliteful thinges and namely from eating of flesh In so much that when anie flesh was laid vnto her at the table either she gaue it to her brother Steuen that sate by her or els she conueied it priuily awaie that no man might see it She praied verie often and much subdued her bodie with much hard and sharpe discipline sometymes by her selfe alone sometymes with other yong children which resorted vnto her at tymes and were as it were trayned vnder her in spiritual exercises And so with these and other the like workes she preserued increased the graces of God that were plāted in her by her deere spowse Iesus Christ Of a woderfull zeale that was in her to wynne sowles to God and how for that cause she cast a great loue to
S. Dominicke and to his order Chap. 5. AFter that this yong virgin had thus espowsed her self to the Sonne of God she was wholly enflamed with the holie fire of his heauenlie loue in such sort that she had a passing great desire and zeale not only to be vnited her selfe to him with a pure and syncere loue but also to wynne other sowles also By reason of the which zeale she cast a speciall affection to those Sainctes that she vnderstood had taken paines specially about the bringyng of sowles vnder the sweet yoke and obedience of Christ And vnderstanding by reuelation from God that S. Dominicke had institued the order of the friars Preachers to that end she had the brethren of that order in such reuerence that when she sawe anie of them passing by her fathers howse she would goe after them with great humilitie and deuotion and kisse the verie steppes where they had set their feet She had also a meruelous great desire to be professed her selfe in that rule that she with the rest of the brethren might doe what in her laie to wynne some sowles vnto God But when she sawe that she might not doe so bicause she was a woman she thought to take an other waie which was to goe into some farre countreys and there to change her apparel and so to be receiued into some cloister for a man Thus she thought of her selfe but yet not altogether without some president For she had vnderstood befor of S. Euphrosina by whose name she was commonly called while she was a litle one peraduenture by Gods prouidence to for-signifie this holie designemēt that she had after such a maner chāged her attire and liued a verie religious and streight kind of life in a monasterie among men But though this desire and purpose continued long in her mynd yet at the lenght by her humble and continual praier she obteined at Gods hand to vnderstand that he would not haue her to take that waie wherupon she gaue it ouer Now this yong virgin waxed fast in the growth and stature of her bodie but much faster in the encrease of vertue in meekenes in deuotion in graue and womanlie behauiour demeanyng her selfe in all her wordes and deedes so discretly and with such an vnwonted grauitie in that age that her parentes acquaintance neighbours had her in great admiration Emongest a nomber of thinges that passed verie notably of that sort this one acte me thinketh is not to be passed ouer with silence It befell on a daie that her mother hauing a special deuotion to S. Anthonie would haue a Masse to be said in the honour of the said Saincte Wherupon she called her daughter vnto her and taking her certaine candels and money in her hand said these wordes vnto her Goe daughter said she to the church praie our parish Priest that he will sing or cause to be song a Masse in the honour of S. Antonie And offer vp this money and candels vpon the aulter She tooke the money and candels of her mother willingly as she was euermore verie glad and readie to doe whatsoeuer she was commanded by her parentes especially if it tended to the honour of God and wēt without anie tariance to the church and did as she was willed to doe And furthermore for her owne priuate deuotion she continued out the whole Masse and all the rest of the diuine seruice Now her mother thought she would haue returned home againe so soone as she had made her oblation vnto the Priest And therfore when she was come home to make her ashamed of her long tarying she spake vnto her as the maner of mothers is to speake vnto litle children Cursed be those wicked tongues said she that said my daughter should come no more She is come at the lenght though it be long first The child hearing those wordes held her selfe still for a while and gaue no word againe But after a good space when she had as it were well aduised her selfe she tooke her mother aside and with great sadnes of countenance said meekely vnto her Good mother when yee see that I do transgresse anie commandement of yours beate me with a rod as you shall thinke best that I maie be the more warie an other tyme for it standeth well with right and reason that yee so doe But one thing I praie you for my faultes curse no man or woman in the wordle good or bad for it is vnseemelie for you to doe it and to me it is a great griefe of mynd to heare it The mother was so astoined at the discrete answere and graue counsel of her yong daughter that for a good tyme she could not deuise how to say anie more vnto her How beit bicause she would not haue her to vnderstand so much she turned to her againe and said Whie werte thou then so long awaie Deere mother said she I taried to heare that Masse and the rest of the diuine seruice and that done I came streight home without tarying in anie place Then was the mother more edified by those wordes then she was before and went to her husbād and told him all that had passed betweene her and her daughter The which when he heard he weighed the matter like a wise man with him selfe and tooke it to be a verie certaine token of some great grace and singular holines that was like to ensue in his daughter who increasing daie by daie in the loue and feare of God lead her life in these and other the like woorkes of vertue and godlines vntill she came to the age of twelue yeares How shee relented somewhat in her spirituall exercises being therunto induced by the importunitie of her mother and sisters who would needes haue her to vse some diligence in trymyng and setting out of her selfe And of the penance which she did for that offence Chap. 6. WHen this maid was now come to the age of twelue yeares vpward her father and mother tooke great care how they might bestowe her honestly in mariage for the better perfourmance wherof that there might not lacke anie grace or comelines to set her foorth withal that either was in her by nature or might be had by diligence her mother after the maner of women in that countrey in deed rather much vsed then greatly commended was earnest with her that she should bestowe more tyme and diligence in washing and scowring her skynne in kembing and couloring her haire in plucking vp such haires as grewe in her face or necke disorderedly and in other the like vaine and superfluous attendances about the trymming and decking of her bodie to please the eyes of men But the yong spowse of Christ whose hart was wholly preuented with the loue of the fairest beawtifullest emong the sonnes of men who had also both the louelines of her spowse and her owne faith and truth so lately plight to him euermore present before her eyes could in no wise be