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
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 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
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
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
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
passing great Charitie like to this afore writen Chap. 7. AFter that our Lord had thus by his ioyous presence and large promises allured the hart of his spowse to doe yet greater workes of charitie on a daie when the diuine seruice was done at the Fryers and she remained behind alone with one of her sisters to praie as she was comyng downe from a chapel that was there ordained for the sisters of penance our Lord appeered to her in the likenes of a poore pilgrime at the age as it seemed to her of two or three and thirtie yeares halfe naked and besought her that she would geue him clothes for the loue of God Tarrie here a litle while said she till I goe to yonder chapel and come againe and then God willing I will helpe thee of clothes With that she went vp againe to the chapel and did of her kyrtel vnder the which she ware a sliueles peticote which she put off and came downe againe and gaue it to the poore man with a glad cheere When the poore man had receiued that cote he besought her furthermore that seeing she had serued his turne of a wollen garment to weare outwardly she would also be so good as to geue him some shirt of lynen to weare next his bodie With a verie good will said she come home with me I will seeke one out for thee And so she went on afore and the poore man came after When she was come home she went to the chestes and presses where the lynen clothes of her Father and brothers were laid vp and tooke out a shirt and certaine other lynnen clothes and gaue the same gladly to the poore man When the poore pilgryme had receiued all those thinges at her hand he went not his waie but praied her yet more that she would geue him slewes to his peticote to couer his armes withal With a good will said she for otherwise I graunt this cote were to no great purpose And with that she went and sought all about for slewes and at the last sownd a newe cote of a maid seruant that was in the howse hanging on a perch which had neuer ben worne and tooke of the sleeues from the same and gaue them cheerefully to the poore pilgrymme Who receiued those sleeues also thankefully at her hand as he had done all the rest and said vnto her Maistres ye haue now clothed me thoroughly he for whose loue ye haue done it thanke you for it But yet one demaund more I haue to make vnto you I haue a companion lying in an hospital hereby who standeth in great need of clothes If it shall please you to send him anie I will carrie them vnto him in your behalfe with a verie good will This newe request troubled her somewhat and cawsed her to haue a certaine conflicte within her selfe On the one side she was much moued with cōpassion of that poore man and had a passing great desire to supplie his necessitie On the other side she cōsidered the murmuring grudging of as manie as were in the howse who waxed so weerie of her liberal dealing out of thinges that to keepe them from her handes they began euerie one to keep their apparel other goods vnder locke keye Againe she thought she had done ynough to take awaie the sleeues of the seruantes newe cote that was neuer worne that she could not with discretion take anie more from her being her selfe also needie poore Then began she to reason with her owne selfe to discusse in her mynd whether she might conueniently depart with her owne garmēt or no. She was much inclined to doe it bicause she knewe that it was a great worke of charitie and sawe also in reason that she was better able to bear that lacke of clothes then the pore man was But cōtrariwise she cōsidered that if she should spoile her selfe of her clothes and goe naked she should in so doing trangresse the rules of common honestie which might cause great offence in the myndes of as manie as should happen to see her All the which thinges thus considered and discreetly weighed she resolued in her selfe that in this case it was farre better for her and withall more pleasing to God to absteine from geuing her almes then by geuing the same to geue iust occasion of offence to her neighbour And vpon this resolution she spake to the poore man after a verie gentle and sweet maner and said Truly good man if I might doe it with honestie I would spoile my selfe euen of this cote that I weare with all my hart bestowe it vpon thy companion But bicause I haue no moe garmentes to put on but only this and therefore to geue it awaie to an other and to lacke my selfe were not only an vndiscrete part but also against all honestie woman-hood I mustes needes praie thee to hold me excused for in truth there lacketh no good will in me but only abilitie With that the poore man smyled vpon her and said Maistres I see right well that if yee had ought to geue you would gladly geue it I thanke you for your good will God reward you and keepe you And so he tooke his leaue of her and went his waie in such sort that she gathered by certaine signes that this poore pilgryme should be he that was wont to apeere vnto her But such was her lowlines base estimation of her selfe that she thought her selfe vnworthie to receiue anie such cōfort and honour at Gods hand therefore with an hūble mynd she returned to her wōted seruices in the howse where not withstanding she kept her hart euermore fixed vpon her deere spowse Iesus Christ who the next night folowing appeered vnto her againe as she was praying in the likenes of that poore man holding in his hand that cote that she had geuen him all decked and set with goodlie perles and precious stones that shone all ouer the chamber and said vnto her Deere daughter knowest thou this cote yea Lord said she I knowe it verie well but it was not so richly decked when it was with me Then said our Lord to her againe Yester daie thou gauest me this coate verie freely charitably to couer the nakednes of my bodie and to keepe it from cold and shame This daie for recompence of thy great charitie towardes me I geue thee a cote that shal be inuisible to other men but to thee alone both visible and also sensible by the vertue whereof thou shalt be defended both in bodie and sowle from all hurtful cold and with this garment shalt thou be clad vntill the tyme come that in the presence of all Angels and Sainctes I shall put on vpon thee that most blisful and glorious garment of immortalitie in my kingdome When he had said these wordes foorthwith he tooke out a cloth of a sanguine colour with his owne holie handes out of the wound of his side shynyng all about
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
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
maid How almightie God permitted the deuel to haue power ouer her bodie and how she ouercame all with great patience Chap. 33. THe malice that the damned sprites bare to this holie virgin was verie great and the battailes that they made continually against her to remoue her from her constancie and vowe of virginitie were surely verie fierce and cruel All the which she ouercame by the grace of God and triumphed ouer all their malice and wilines as we haue in part touched before but as our Lord would not suffer them to haue anie power ouer her soule which could not be without synne so did he permit them to vexe her bodie and put it to great paine for her further increase of merite and higher crowne In so much that some tymes they threwe her into the fyer sometymes they cast her downe headlong from her horse and one tyme when doctour Raimundus her Confessour with diuerse other was present they hurled her downe in such sort that both she and her horse were ouer the head and eares in the myer Wherat she smyled pleasantly and said to her companie Be not afraid for this is the worke of Malatasca And this happened most commonly vnto her when she had done some special worke that tended to the edifying of soules As she declareth verie well her selfe in her hundreth and sixt epistle where after that she had declared what intolerable paines she suffred which were in deed so vehement that for verie paine she raught at her garmentes and looke how much she latched with her hand so much she rent awaie and how the next daie being to write letters to the Popes holines and to three Cardinals when she had ended her letler to the Pope she was able to write no more by reason of the violent paines that came vpon her she writeth these wordes And so standing stil a litle while there began a terrour of deuels which was done in such sort that they set me quite besides my selfe raging like mad dogges against me as though I seelie worme had ben the occasion of taking out of their handes that which they had holden longe tyme in the holie Church And this terrour together with the paine of my bodie was so great that I had thought to haue gone from my studie and to get me to the chappell as though my studie had ben the occasion of my paines but sodainly I was throwen downe And being throwen downe it seemed to me that my soule was departed from my body howbeit not so as when it was departed in deed for then my soule did tast the felicitie of the immortal spirites and did receiue that most soueraigne blessednes with them But now it seemed as a thing reserued though it seemed not to be in my bodie but I sawe my bodie as though it had ben an other These be the verie wordes that she writeth in that epistle in the which she describeth certaine newe battailes made against her by those damned sprites farre greater and more terrible then euer she susteined at anie other tyme. And in the next epistle she declareth how she was verie sore beaten and tormented by them bicause she praied with a great zeale for the Catholike Church where she saieth moreouer that the more she suffred in her bodie the greater was her loue towardes the Church and the more she desired to see the same refourmed How she deliuered a certaine yong maid that was possessed of a wicked sprite Chap. 34. AS it was well knowen to diuerse and sundrie persones that this holie maid was meruelously vexed and put to intolerable paines by the malice of wicked sprites so it pleased God to shewe likewise to the wordle that he had graunted her as it were by special priuilege authority iurisdiction ouer the said sprites to commaund bynd and cast them out at her pleasure to the great comfort of the true and humble seruantes of God and withal to the vtter confusion of those proude sprites that set them selues vp against God and his seruantes as maie appeere euidently by these examples here ensewing There was in the citie of Siena a certaine notarie called maister Michael who when he was well striken in yeares determined with the consent of his wife to forsake the wordle and to geue him selfe to a more streigth order of life He determined also to dedicate two of his daughters to the seruice of God in a monasterie founded in the name honour of S. Iohn Baptist in the same citie Where when they had continued a certaine tyme one of the daughters whose name was Laurentia a child of eight yeares old was by the secret iudgement of God posessed with a wicked sprit by reason wherof the whole monasterie was much disquieted Wherupon by common consent they sent for her father and gaue him his daughter againe After that this child was thus taken out of the monasterie the wicked sprite vttered many wonderful thinges by her mouth and answered to manie darcke and hard questions And which was most strange he spake commonly in the latine tongue He disclosed also manie secret vices of diuerse and sundrie persones to their great reproach and slaunder Which thing turned the father and mother and others also of their kinred and acquentance to great heauines who left no meane vnsought wherby they thought they might ease the child Emong other thinges wherin those deuout folkes hoped in tyme to find helpe comfort one special meane was the reliques of Sainctes kept in manie places in the citie vnto the which places they resorted daily with all diligence namely to S. Ambrose tombe who had ben in his life tyme a Fryer preacher to whome almightie God had graunted a singular grace in casting out deuels frō such as were possessed in so much that his cope or scapular which were there kept being laied vpon them that were vexed with vncleane sprites did verie commonly chase them awaie Wherfore they brought the child thither and laied her downe vpon the tombe cast the said clothes ouer her And the father and mother in the meane tyme set them selues earnestly to praier beseeching our Lord with great instance that it would please him at the contemplation of that holie Saincte to take mercie on their child But their praier was not heard as then Which thing happened vnto them not for anie synne that they committed but bicause it was otherwise disposed by the prouident wisdome of God who vndoubtely put it in the heartes of certaine of their frindes to geue them counsel that they should repraire to the holie maid for the reliefe of their child Which counsel they folowed in deed and first sent vnto her praying her in most earnest maner that she would vouchsafe to doe her best to helpe their daughter wherunto she made answere that she had inough to doe with the wicked sprites that did from tyme to tyme molest and trouble her selfe and therfore praied them that they would hold her
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
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
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
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
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
concluded all with one voice which were in nōber sixteene persones that it was her praier that had procured that increase from heauen for said they yee see that we are all satisfied and the bread that was set before vs is not lesse but rather more then it was at the begynnyng And when their table was taken vp there remained so much bread as sufficed the sisters aboundantly and after them the holie maid commaunded the rest to be geuen out to the poore which was also a plentiful almes The like happened the same yeare and in the same house in the lent tyme by the like default of an other of the sisters called Francis How the holie maid wrought the like miracle in the couent of the Friers preacheers in Siena after her departure out of this wordle Chap. 7. THe holie maid died in the citie of Rome as it is said before from whence her head was sent afterwardes to Siena and receiued but not with such honour as was thought meete and answereable to the holie life that she had lead in that place VVhereof Doctour Raimundus hauing some remorse of conscience and being moued also as it was thought by God was in hand with his bretheren that they should appoint some day when that pretious relique might be brought as from some other place by the whole couent and the rest of her spiritual sonnes and daughters with hymnes and psalmes and other solemnities such as were common to the Saints in heauen for as yet it was not lawful to singe any particular seruice in the honour of her bicause she was not canonized Which being agreed vpon he went and inuited al her spiritual children that were abroad to come at the day appointed and to honour their good mother euery one in the best maner that he could deuise And withal he entreated them to take a part of their pitance that daie with the couent When this solemnitie was ended and the tyme come that they should goe to dyner the brother that had the charge of the butterie came to the priour with a heauie countenance and told him that there was not bread inough in the howse to suffice the one halfe of the couent and much lesse to suffice the strangers also that were inuited which were to the nomber of twentie persones When the priour heard that he went first into the butterie to see the prouision And when he sawe that it was so in deed he sent that brother with Doctour Thomas the holie maides foremer ghostlie Father to certaine of their special frindes houses to make a sufficient prouision of bread for the whole companie But those men taried somewhat longer then it was thought they would haue done Wherefore the priour hauing consideration of his strangers caused them to sit downe and set before them so manie loaues of bread that there remained for the couent but only so much as they thought would haue ben a competent portion for fower or siue men At the length when the priour sawe that they came not awaie he willed the couent to sit downe also and to begynne with that litle vntill more came They did so and eate their meate And though those two brethren came not at all with anie new prouision yet was their bread so much increased vndoubtedly by the merites of the holie maid that the whole couent which were to the nomber of fiftie persones was abundantly satisfied both at the first and second dyner And after all was done they gathered vp a great quantitie of bread which was also reserued till an other tyme When the couent dyner was done the priour with certaine of his brethren went to the place where the strangers sate Doctour Raimundus with them Who was still sitting at the table with them and making a sermon or collation in the praise of the holie maid Which sermon the priour interrupted and told them what a wonderful worke it had pleased God to worke that daie in the couent When doctour Raimundus heard that he turned himselfe againe to the companie and said these wordes Surely surely our good mother sheweth that she liketh well of the seruice and honour that we haue done her this daie in that she feedeth vs with bread by miracle which was in deed a common thing with her while she liued And in this she sheweth also that she is the true daughter of our blessed father S. Dominicke of whome we reade in the storie of his life that twise in his life tyme he wrought the like miracle in multiplying of bread How almightie God caused wine to be found in an emptie vessel to the vse of the holie maid and how he caused the same to cease againe at her instance Chap 8. IN the yeare of our Lord. 1375. the holie maid went to the citie of Pisa and lodged in a worshipful citizens house called maister Gerard Bonconties Where by reason of a great abstraction that she had from her bodilie senses she was brought to such an extreme feeblenes that it seemed she was at the verie point of death Wherefore doctour Raimundus fearing her present departure out of his wordle began to cast with him selfe if it were possible to deuise anie thing that might somewhat refresh or comfort her bodie in that case Flesh egges and wine he knewe well she might not abide and much lesse electuaries or anie other the like confortatiues that were made of sweet thinges Wherefore he came to her and praied her that she would suffer them at the least to put a litle sugar into the cold water that she droncke To that she answered quickely and said Alas father that litle life that is lefte in my bodie yee goe about to quench vtterly for yee knowe that all sweet thinges are become verie hurtful and deadlie to me Then Doctour Raimundus and the said maister Gerard in whose house she laie began to deuise carefully what thing they might doe to relieue and comfort her if it were possible And it came to their myndes which they had seene oftentymes proued in the like cases that when a sicke persone was not able to receiue anie sustenance inwardly it was good to take red wine and with the same to wash the temples and pulses of his hand-wrestes VVherupon maister Gerard sent to one of his neighbours which was wont euermore to haue one vessel of that wine and praied him that he would be so good as to send him a botel of it The neighbour when he vnderstood maister Gerardes request and withal the extreme feeblenes of the holie maid made answere to the messenger and said Truly frend I could find in my hart to bestowe if it were that whole vessel vpon maister Gerard. But it is now three monthes sence it was all drawen out euen to the lees And at this present there is not in my howse one droppe of that kind of wine wherof I am verie sorie But that you maie be well assured that it is so in deed I praie you
suspected that the holie maid should be departed out of this life though she knewe well that she was verie sicke bicause she had seene by experience that the holie maid had often tymes recouered and escaped out of sickenesses that seemed verie grieuous and past all hope of recouerie VVherefore she rather thought that for so long tyme as she had ben occupied about this vision the holie maid had ben after her accustomed maner in some singular traunse or abstractioÌ„ in the which our Lord had shewed vnto her some great and notable reuelations But bicause the mornyng was so farre spent that she stood in doubt of finding anie Masse that daie she supposed that all this vision was none other thing but only some suttle illusion of the deuel to make her to transgresse the commaundement of our holie mother the Church in not hearing Masse on the sondaie Wherefore she hasted her selfe vp and set her pot ouer the fyer and ranne towardes the parish Church saying thus in her hart If I leese Masse this daie I will take all this to be the worke of the ghostlie enemie But if I come in good tyme to heare Masse then will I thinke that our Lord hath shewed these thinges vnto me for my good mother Catherines sake When she came to the Church she found that the gospel was done and the offertorie song Wherof she was verie sorie and said Out vpoÌ„ me wretch the wicked feend hath deceiued me With that she made hast homwardes againe to set her thinges in the kitchen a litle foreward that she migh goe to some other Church and find a whole Masse While she was at home thus occupied she heard a bell ring to Masse in a monasterie of Nunnes not farre from her house which made her a glad woman And so she set her selfe in order againe to goe to Church and for hast lefte her colewortes which stood by her readie piked and wasshed euen as they were and put them not into the pot as she had thought to doe VVhen she came to the Church she found them at the verie begynnyng of Masse wherof she was verie glad and said to her selfe Surely now I see that the deuel hath not deceiued me as I thought he had done But she had great care of the displeasure of her sonnes which were now of good yeares bicause she knewe their dyner was nor readie nor could not be made readie in anie conuenient tyme. Houbeit she committed all to God that she might heare Masse deuoutly beseeching him notwithstanding that if that vision were of him he would so prouide that there might no displeasure or cause of offence rise of the same betwene her her children And with that she set her selfe downe and heard out the whole Masse to the end wheÌ„ Masse was done as she was going homeward her sonnes met with her in the streete said Mother it is very late I praie you let vs goe to diner Tarrie a litle good children said she you shal dyne in good tyme. She went home a pace and found the doore fast locked and the keie within euen as she had lefte it So soone as she was within the house she weÌ„t streight to the kitchin thought to haue gone foreward with the dressing of dyner But when she came in she sawe that all was done to her hand her colewoortes and flesh thoroughly soddeÌ„ al other thinges in such readines that they might goe to the table when they would VVherat she was much astoined and said to her selfe Surely now I see our Lord hath heard my praier And she determined to goe after dyner to the holie maides house whome she thought to be yet aliue in the wordle and to tell her of all the thinges that had chaunced that daie Her sonnes that were not farre from the house she called home and set them to dyner And while they were eating her mynd ranne still vpon the strange vision that she had seene in the mornyng and vpon these wonders that had ensued vpon the same Her sonnes also that knewe nothing of the matter began to commend their meate and said that it was passing well seasoned and had a farre better tast then it was wont to haue Which wordes she put vp in her hart and said to her selfe as she declared afterwardes to Doctour Raimundus O my good mother Catherine it is thou that hast come this mornyng into my house to supplie my rome and office in the kitchen Now I knowe in deed that thou art a holie virgin the true haÌ„d maid of Christ And yet for all this she suspected nothing of the holie maides departure out of this life but so soone as her sonnes had dined she went forthwith to her house as she was wont to doe at other tymes and knocked at the doore but no bodie giue her answere The neighbours told her that of likelihood she was gone out as her maner was to visite some holie place and that there was no bodie at home Which she supposed to be true therfore went her waie Now the truth was that all those that vvere vvithin vvere in great heauines for the losse of their good mother vvhich vvas departed from them and had lefte them as motherles children in this wicked worlde And they did what they could to conceale her death from the people both for the auoiding of that great presse and tumulte which they knewe would be made if her death were once noised and also that they might with the more quietnes conferre with discreete persones concernyng the maner and order of her funerals But howsoeuer they laboured to keepe the matter secret the next daie when her bodie should be caried to the Church of the Fryers preachers commonly called Our ladie ouer Minerua it was knowen all ouer the citie And there was such a concourse of people runnyng and pressing towardes the place where she laie to touch some part either of her bodie or of her garmentes that those of her familie retinue that were there attending vpon the corps were in great feare and danger to haue had both their garmentes torne from their backes and their bodies sore hurt with the violent presse crowd of the vnrulie multitude In so much that they were constreined to remoue the beere from the place where it stood and to set it in S. Dominickes chappel which was well defended with a strong grate of yron While these thinges were in doing Semia came thither by chaunce and seeing such a great concourse of people asked what it meaned They made her answere and said that Catherine of Siena was dead and that her bodie was there caried to the Church to be buried VVhen she heard that she sâ—right pitifully and ranne towardes the place where her corps laie VVhen she came thither and sawe certaine women and sisters of the holie maides familie standing about her bodie she cried out and said O most cruel women whie haue you kept the departure of
my sweet mother secret from me wherefore would yee not call me to be present with others at her passage out of the worlde They excused them selues alleaging certaine reasonable cawses which did in some degree satisfie her mynd VVell then said she I praie you tell me what tyme she departed Yester daie said they about eight of the clocke she gaue vp the ghost VVith that she rent her owne face with her nailes and cried out ruthfully I sawe her I sawe my sweet mother euen when she departed out of her bodie I sawe her caried vp into heauen by the ministerie of Angels crowned with three precious crownes clad solomnely with statelie robes of shynyng white Now I knowe that it was our Lord that sent his Angel to shewe me the departure of my good mother It was he that prouided for me that I should heare Masse so late And which is more I see now that it was our Lord him selfe that supplied my charge miraculously in the dressing of my childrens dyner O mother O deere mother O sweete mother whie wouldest thou not geue me to vnderstand that it was thou that diddest depart out of this life VVhen she had thus eased her hart somewhat with weeping and speaking she declared to those religious sisters and to the rest that stoode there about the beere what a goodlie vision our Lord had shewed her at that verie tyme whē the holie maid passed out of this world with all such other thinges as haue ben recited here to fore Wherof they all glorified God and tooke no small comfort How the holie maides bodie laie three daies three nightes aboue the ground vnburied and of a nomber of miracles which it pleased our Lord to work in that meane time C. 10. WHile the holie maides bodie laie thus within the chappel of S. Dominicke the people came in so fast frō all partes of the citie to kisse her handes and feete to touch some part of her garmentes to commend thē selues to her praiers that they were cōstreined for satisfying the peoples deuotion to keepe her aboue the ground vnburied for the space of three daies three nightes In the which tyme very manie came thither brought with them a nōber of weake impotent creatures hoping that they should obtein their recouerie and health at Gods hād through the holy praiers merites of the B. virgin And they wer not deceiued in their hope expectatiō There was dwelling in the citie of Rome at that tyme a sister of the third order of S. Francis called Dominica borne in Bergamo a citie of Lombardie which had one of her armes benommed and as it were withered and dried vp in such sort that for the space of six monethes before the departure of the holie maid she had no vse of it This Dominica came to the Church and to the chappel where the holie corps laie But bicause being a weake woman she could not come her selfe to touch anie part of her bodie or garmentes by reason of the great presse and crowd of the people she praied some one that stood there neere to the beere that he would be so good as to take a vele of hers and put it to some part of the bodie and so deliuer it vnto her aganie When she had receiued her vele againe she put it to her armes and foorthwith her arme was perfectly healed and in as good state as euer it was before The which when she perceiued she cried out for ioye and declared to all the people that were there present what a wonderfull worke our Lord had wrought vpon her Whervpon they brought in manie other weake and feeble creatures hoping thad if they might come to touch but only the hemme of her garmentes they should be made whole Emong others they brought in a child of fower yeares old whose sinowes in his necke were shronken that he held his head euermore vpon his shoulder and could not lifte it vp When this child was brought thither they held him downe to the beere that the holie maides hand might touch that part that was so shronken and they tooke the vele that was ouer the holie maides head and put it about the childes necke And foorthwith the child began to amend and in the presence of all that people within a verie litle tyme lifte vp his head and was fully and perfectly healed After this an honest citizen of Rome called Lucius Cauarulis which was so grieuously pained with an incurable disease in his hippe and legge that he could scantly endure to goe a verie litle waie with the helpe of a staffe or crooch hearing the fame of the great miracles that were wrought by almightie God in the honour of the holie maid came with passing great paine and trauaile to the Church of the Friers preachers And when he was come thither he found the meanes by the helpe of others to be caried to the place where her bodie laie And there with great deuotion he tooke her hand and laid it vpon the partes diseased to witt vpon his thigh and legge He had no sooner done so but that he felt immediatly a present ease and helpe And before he departed from thence was perfectly cured of his disease and maine to the great wonder and astonishment of all the people In like maner a yong maid called Ritozola vpon whome a verie lothsome and stincking leprie was so farre growen that her nose and vpper lippe were foulie disfigured with the same hearing in the citie the brute and talke of these strange miracles came to the Church and pressed to approch neere to the holie corps but was diuerse tymes repelled by them that stood there about the beere Al the which not withstanding she assaied againe and againe and at the length with much a doe gate in When she was entred she went foorthwith and put her nose and lippe that were so pitifully disfigured not only to the feete and handes of the holie maid as others did but also to her face VVhereby she was so fully cured of her foule disease that there remained not so much as anie litle signe or token of the leprie in her face A certaine Romaine called Typreus had a daughter which in her tender age fel into a verie grieuous infirmitie called the ptisicke of the which she could not be cured by anie medicine This Typreus and his wife whose name was Lella hearing the fame of these great miracles that were wrought by the holie maid commended their daughter with great deuotion vnto her and caused their daughter to touch a certaine kerchiefe and beades that had touched the holie maides bodie A wonderful thing The yong maid that was before despaired of phisicions and other foorthwith vpon the touching of these thinges without any longer time or helpe of medicine found her selfe to be in as good state of bodie as euer she was in her life before and so continued In this tyme likewise while the bodie of the holie
wrought to declare how acceptable her workes of charitie were to him Chap. 8. Of a passing great charitie and diligence which she vsed in attending vpon a sicke woman and of her inuincible patience in bearing the waywardnes of the same woman Chap. 9. An other verie strange example of her charitie and patience towardes a sicke woman of her owne order and how she rendred great good for great euel Chap. 10. How she serued an old widowe that had a festered sore runnyng vpon her by whom she was also infamed And of diuerse strange accidentes that ensued vpon the same Chap. 11. How she was endued with manie goodlie priuileges How she had a passing desire to receiue the blessed Sacrament How being fortified with the spirite of God she endured much labour and trauaile without anie bodelie sustenance Chap. 12. How she was molested by diuerse and sundrie persones disswading her from her streight abstinence and how she ouercame her gostlie father by reason Chap. 13. How her strange maner of life was gainesaid and slaundered and how such gainesayinges and slaunders maie easily be answered Chap. 14. How she shewed her selfe meruelous seuere and rigorous towardes her selfe and contrariwise wonderfull gentle and meeke towardes them that slaundered her which she did to wynne them to God Chap. 15. How our Sauiour tooke her hart out of her bodie and after a certaine of daies gaue her a newe for it Chap. 16. Of diuerse and sundrie visions which she had at the siight and receiuing of the blessed Sacrament and how she felt herselfe wonderfully altered after the receite of that newe hart Chap. 17. How our Lord reueled manie high mysteries to the holie maid and how Marie Magdalen was assigned to her to be her mother Chap 18. How hangyngh in the aier she sawe certaine secrets and high mysteries of God which it is not lawful to disclose to anie man Chap 19. How she put her mouth to the side of our Sauiour and drancke and of manie other wonderful thinges that happend about the blessed Sacrament Chap 20. Of certaine other reuelations shewed vnto her vpon the receiuing of the blessed Sacrament And how she obteined graces for diuerse and sundrie persones Chap 21. How she receiued the blessed marckes of our Sauiour Christ in the citie of Pisa Chap. 22. How she was rauished in spirite for the space of three daies and how afterwardes she did penance as long for a woord that escaped her vnwares Chap. 23. Of certaine other reuelations and againe of the tendernes of her conscience Chap. 24. How it pleased God to reueale to her the worthines and excellencie of the blessed patriarke S. Dominicke and of his true children Chap. 25. How the holie virgin being wholly inflamed with the Loue of God desired instantly to be loosed from this life and to be with Christ and how by that meane she obteined to beare in her bodie euerie particular paine that our Sauiour Christ suffred for vs. Chap. 26. How bearing the Crosse of Christ continually in her bodie she tooke great delite to reason of the same and how she reuealed manie strange mysteries vpon the holie scriptures concerning the Crosse Chap. 27. An other exposition vpon the same place of the gospel with certaine other mystical sayinges And how she passed in deed out of this life in the panies of the Crosse Chap. 28 How she passed in deed out of this life and had the fruition of heauenlie ioyes and how afterwardes her soule came againe to the bodie Chap 29. How she had a meruelous deuotion and longyng after the blessed Sacrament and how she bare manie reproaches and slaunders for the same Chap. 30. How our Sauiour Christ ministred the blessed Sacrament vnto her with his owne holie hand Chap. 31. How her face did shyne like an Angel while she was receiuing the blessed Sacrament and of certaine other strange signes Chap. 32. How almightie God permitted the deuel to haue power our her bodie and how she ouercame all with great patience Chap. 33. How she deliuered a certanie yong maid that was possessed of a wicked spirite Chap. 34. How she deliuered a woman that was possessed of a wicked spirite Chap. 35. A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CONTEINED IN THE THIRD PART OF THIS BOOKE HOw the holie maid was endued with the spirite of prophecie and foretold what calamities should happen to the Church and likewise how it should be restored againe Chap. 1. How the holie maid sawe the secret thoughtes of mens hartes and how she vsed that gyfte to the benefite of diuerse and sundrie persones Chap. 2. How the holie maid deliuered Doctour Thomas her confessour and an other Frier that iournied with him from being murthered in the waie Chap. 3. How she prophecied long tyme before of the conuersion of a gentleman called Francis of Malauolt Chap. 4. How the holie maid made an exhortation to the Carthusian monckes in the which by the spirite of prophecie she touched the most secret defectes of diuerse and sundrie of them verie particularly Chap. 5. VVhat a singular grace the holie maid had not only in seeing the state of their soules that were present with her but also in discernyng the qualities and condicions of them that were farre from her and in strange countries with certaine other pointes of like sort worthie to be noted Chap. 6. How the holie maid praied continually for the state of the Church and how by prayer she obteined of God the ceasing of two rebellions Chap. 7. How the holie maid obteined by prayer that she might satisfie the iustice of God for the paines due to her father in Purgatorie Chap. 8. How the holie maid by praier brought her mother to life againe and so deliuered her from the paines of hell Chap. 9. How the holie maid obteined of God by prayer the conuersion of two theeues that were lead to execution Chap. 10. How by the praier of the holie maid an obstinate synner was turned to God Chap 11. How the holie maid by praier procured the conuersion of a fierce yong gentleman in Siena called Iames Tolomes Chap. 12. How the holie maid by praier obteined the conuersion of a gentleman called Mannes Chap. 13. VVhat a wonderful grace the holie maid had in making exhortations and conuerting soules vnto God Chap. 14. How the holie maid mede manie goodlie Sermons or collations in the presence of Pope Gregorie and afterwardes likewise in the presence of Pope Vrbanus and his Cardinals Chap. 15. How the holie maid was sent to Pope Gregorie from the Florentines about a treatie of peace and how she was sent backe againe with the conditions of peace freely put in her owne hand Chap. 16. How the holie maid was sent backe from Pope Gregorie to the Florentines with the conditions of peace freely put in her owne hand Chap 17. How the holie maid shewed her selfe to be excellently well learned both by her writinges and workes set out to the whole wordle and also by her conferences and disputatiōs had with certaine great learned men Chap. 18 A briefe repitition or somme of manie pointes of heauenlie doctrine reuealed vnto the holie maid immediatly from God Chap. 19. A praier or answere made by a faithful and deuout soule to the wordes of almightie God here before recited Chap. 20. VVhat a sure affiance the holie maid had in the truth of Christ and how she longed after martyrdome Chap. 21. How the holie maid made a final exhortation to her spiritual children and so passed out of this life Chap. 22. A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CONTEINED IN THE FOVRTH PART OF THIS BOOKE HOw it pleased our Lord to make the holines of his spowse knowen to the wordle by diuerse and sundrie euident tokens from heauen And first how she spake certaine comfortable wordes to doctour Raimundus after her departure out of this wordle Chap. 1. How it pleased God to geue a testimonie of her holines in her life tyme by an euident miracle wrought at the tombe of S. Agnes Chap. 2. How the holie maid in her life tyme healed manie that were sicke of the plague Chap. 3. How the holie maid healed a great nomber that were sicke of other diseases after the liker maner Chap. 4. How the holie maid made good bread of fustie and stincking corne and how she multiplied the same Chap. 5. How the holie maid multiplied bread an other tyme in Rome for the prouisiom of her familie Chap. 6. How the holie maid wrought the like miracle in the couent of the fryers preachers in Siena after her departure out of this wordle Chap. 7. How almightie God caused wine to be founde in an emptie vessel to the vse of the holie maid and how he caused the same to cease againe at her instance Chap. 8. Of a goodlie vision that was shewed to a certaine deuout matrone in Rome at the departure of the holie maid out of this life Chap. 9 How the holie maides bodie laie three daies and three nightes aboue the ground vnburied and of a nomber of miracles which it pleased our Lord to worke in that meane tyme. Chap. 10. VVhat miracles almightie God wrought to honour the holie maid after her burial Chap. 11. The end of the Table
had seene that from this tyme forward her whole care and studie was how to recouer the same againe Now whē our Lord had after this maner watered the roote of his litle plāt with the dewe of his sweet blessing she began foorthwith to yeald not only buddes blossomes of great matters in expectation but also ripe frutes of diuerse and sundrie excellent and perfecte vertues in so much that in all her behauiour she shewed her selfe to all those that God vowchsafed to conuerse with her not like an infant as her yeares required nor yet like a young woman which not withstanding in that age had ben a verie strange matter but like a graue and sad matrone This heauenlie fyer of Gods holie loue had wrought such an alteration in her hart such a light in her vnderstanding such a feruour in her will such a plyantnes in all her powers both of bodie and sowle to folowe the instincte of his holie Spirite that to them that sawe her behauiour and tooke good heed to her wordes and deedes it seemed that she was wholly transformed into IESVS-CHRIST her sweet spowse and Sauiour In so much that on a daie going to confession as her maner was she declared of her selfe to her gostlie father that she had learned the liues and austeritie of diuerse auncient fathers in Egipt other Sainctes and specially of the holy patriarke S. Dominicke not by the teaching of men nor by reading in bookes but by reuelation from God and that she had such a desire to frame her life after the examples and rules of those holy men that she could think vpon none other thing but only how to bring the same to passe Whervpon she entred into a newe course of life which was so strange vnwonted especially in that tender age that all men had great wonder of it First of all she gaue ouer all maner of plaie and sport wherein yong children are wont to take delite Then she withdrewe her selfe from all companie that she might haue the freer and more familiar accesse to God in holie meditations and praiers She bound her selfe to a wonderfull kinde of silence she punished her bodie with much abstinence and other hard discipline The which that she might doe with the more commoditie secrecy she sought out a priuie place in the howse where she might scourge her selfe with a cord which she had prouided for that purpose And as she was a towardlie scholer in the schoole of Christ yealding her selfe verie ployantly to be lead from vertue to vertue whether soeuer it pleased the spirite of God to lead her so was she also a diligent and discrete schole-mistres and vsed meanes to allure and trayne other litle children also of her age in the same patthes of vertue and austere life In so much that when the neighbours children resorted vnto her as they did oftentymes being sterred to grace by the sweet wordes and holie example of this gratious infant they would gather them selues together in a certaine secret place of the howse which she had chosen out for the nonce and there would they scourge them selues as they sawe her to doe saying in the meane tyme ech of them a certaine nomber of Pater nosters and Aue Maries according as she prescribed them to saie By these other the like exercises of piety and deuotion she fownd such fauour in the sight of her heauenlie spowse that verie manie tyme when she set hir self to goe vp and downe those staiers in her fathers howse saying her Aue Maries after such sort as we declared before it was seene by diuerse and sundrie persones that she was caried sensibly in the ayer by the almightie power of God and ministerie of Angels without towching anie steppe of the same with her feete And this happened vnto her namely at those tymes when she retired her selfe from all companie and specially of men And there is no doubt but that it happened in that place to geue her and others to vnderstand how acceptable that deuotion towardes the most glorious mother of God which she exercised in that place was to almightie God Of a bold entreprise which this blessed infant made to liue a solitarie life after the maner of auneiēt Fathers in Egipt And how she vnderstood that it was not the wil of God that she should enter into that state of life as yet Chap. 3. THis yong virgin had learned by reuelation that the trade of life which the auncient Heremites liued in Egipt was verie acceptable vnto God and therfore she had a passing great desire to seeke out some solitaire place in the wildernes where she might likewise liue after their rules and examples But she could not deuise how to bring her desired purpose to passe And bicause it was not the will of God that she should take that trade of life in such maner as she desired he left her in this point to her owne natural wit and would geue her none other direction but only what her owne childish wit could deuise Wherupon to accomplish the great desire that she had to serue God in the wildernes on a daie tymely in the mornyng she made her prouision like a child of one loafe of bread and with the same tooke her waie towardes her sisters howse which was maried dwelt neere vnto the gate of S. Ansanus Howbeit she entred not into the howse as she was wont to doe but passed by and went out at the gate and so did she neuer before that tyme. And so passing foorth vntill she came at the lenght where she sawe the howses standing one here and an other there and not together as she was wont to see them in the citie she begā to be glad hoped wel that she was neere to the wildernes Yet she held on her waie a litle further and came at the last to a place where she fownd a litle caue vnder a bancke which pleased her very well And foorth with she entred into the same with passing great ioye gladnes for she persuaded her selfe verily that she had now fownd out that wildernes that she so much desired And when she was entred she stood not long to consider of the opportunitie of the place or how she might accōmodate her selfe in that newe oratorie but by and by without anie further aduisement or consideration she fell downe on her knees and set her selfe to praier with great humilitie and feruour of spirite The which lowly and deuout mynd was so acceptable in the sight of our Lord that although it was not his holie will and pleasure that she should followe that order of life yet to geue her to vnderstand that no holie desire or purpose shal euer passe vnrewarded he gaue her this tokē As she was praying with a verie vehement bent of mynd she was taken vp by litle and litle from the earth where she kneeled and her bodie was lifted vp as high as the height of
cried out Alas daughter said she what hast thou done But the maid couered her head againe and went aside At this crie of the mother came the good man of the howse and his other children hauing great feare and wonder what the matter should be But when they vnderstood the cause they were verie much offended with her in so much that they reproached her both in wordes and deedes Thou vile wretche said they trowest thou thus by cutting of thyne haire to escape our handes It will grewe againe in spite of thy teeth Though thou burst for curst hart thou must marrie And make thy selfe well assured of this thou shalt neuer haue good daie vntill thou conforme thy will to our will And with that they tooke order that she should haue no more anie secret chamber in the howse to resort vnto but should be continually occupied about the commō seruice of the howse that she might haue neither tyme nor place to retire her selfe to praier and meditation And to geue her to vnderstand how litle account they made of her they put awaie the kitchen maide and appointed her to doe all the workes of drudgerie about the howse And while she was so occupied they ceased not to reuile her whether soeuer she went in the howse and to loade her eares with most opprobrious and despiteful wordes weenyng therby to bring to passe that she should either yeald to them or be weerie of her life Last of all to enforce this battaile vpon the seelie maid with as great strēgth and policie as was possible they fownd out a comelie yonge man of a good kinred and welbeloued of all that were in the howse whom they tendered vnto her But her hart was so thoroughly possessed with the loue of Christ her chosen spowse that she might not abide to heare of any other And wheras they had debarred her of that commoditie which she was wonte to haue of a secret place to withdrawe her selfe vnto for praier and meditation our merciful Lord who will not suffer his faithful seruantes to be tempted aboue that they are able but euen with the tentation geueth an issue taught her by the inward instincte of his holie spirite how she should buyld a secret chamber or oratorie in her owne hart where she might dwell delitefully with her sweet spowse so long as she listed and neuer be plucked out whatsoeuer befell And wheras before she was enforced sometymes by occasions to goe out of her chamber and so to be distracted with out ward affaires now contrariwise she shut vp her selfe so closely in this closet and tooke such passing delite in the presence of her loue and ioye Iesus Christ whose delite it is to dwell in pure and cleane hartes that howsoeuer they cried and called about her whatsoeuer beating and bounsing they made outwardly reproching her in wordes or deedes she passed with all such thinges so quietly as if they had neuer ben spoken or done to her And thus had she a verie sensible and experimental vnderstanding of that goodly lesson which our Sauiour teacheth vs in the ghospel where he saieth The kingdome of God is within you For vnto a sowle thus disposed where Christ reigneth by faith and holie loue all creatures are made vassal and do serue ech thing in his kind and course orderly euen as obedient subiectes do their Prince in a well gouerned kingdome Now when this towardlie disciple of Christ had thus learned this high lesson by the teaching of the holie Ghost as she had shewed her selfe to be an humble scholer in the schoole of God so had she also a charitable desire to become a discrete schoole-mistres to others and namely to Doctour Raimundus her ghostlie Father whom at tymes when he was occasioned to goe abroad by reason of his charge and affaires she would warne that he should buyld a secret cell or closet in his sowle out of the which he should neuer depart The which wordes at the first seemed to him to be verie obscure and darcke but afterwardes when he had considered of them aduisedly he sawe that they were to verie good purpose and profit He sawe what a goodlie thing it was for a man to buyld a tēple in his hart for almightie God and to dwell in the same with quietnes of conscience and peace of God that passeth all vnderstanding And he sawe how litle the deuel had gayned at this holie virgins hand by mouing her parentes to debarre her of that litle commoditie of a secret chamber which she had in their howse The losse wherof was an occasion to her to buyld an heauenlie chamber in her hart where she might enioye the sweet presence of her louelie spowse so often and so long as she listed without anie trouble or molestation And as for the abbasing of her to the vile seruices of the howse how litle that turned to the aduantage of the enemie it may appeere by that that she her selfe declared afterwardes to her ghostlie Father When she sawe that her father and mother had appointed her to doe all the workes of drudgerie in the kitchen and other places of the howse she neuer repined at it but turned all that basenes to her great commoditie merite by this holie imagination She had this conceite with her selfe that her father represented in the howse our Sauiour Christ her mother our blessed Lady her brethrē sisters and others of the familie the Apostles and disciples of Christ The kitchen she imagined to be the innermost tabernacle of the temple called Sancta sanctorum where the most principal burnt sacrifices were dight and offred vp to God And with this godlie imagination she went vp and downe the howse like a diligent Martha and in her father mother and brethren serued Christ with his blessed mother Sainctes so cheerefully and with such a glad hart that the whole howse had great wonder of it And thus she turned all that drudgerie wherunto she was put by the malice of the ghostlie enemie to the honour of God to the inward comfort of her owne sowle and to the great contentation of her parentes and edifying of as manie as sawe it Of her continuance in her feruent and deuout exercises and how her father sawe a Doue ouer her head Of a singular affection that she bare to the habite of S. Dominicke and how it was declared vnto her by a cleere vision that she was heard How she preuailed against all those in the howse that went about to hinder her holie designementes and vowes Chap. 8. BVt yet bicause she cold not be without some chamber where she might take her rest in the night season and a priuate chamber she might not haue bicause her father and mother had taken order to the contrarie she chose to be in her brother Steuens chamber where she might in the daie tyme withdrawe her selfe from companie whiles he was out of the waie and in the night set her selfe to praier without
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
desired for otherwise I am well assured that our Lord and S. Dominicke who haue called me to their seruice will so dispose of me that you shall not haue me long neither in that habite nor in anie other These wordes she repeated so often and with such vehemencie that her mother at the lenght being verie sore afraid lest her daughter showld haue died in deed went againe to the religious sisters and intreated them so earnestly that they were ouercome with her importunitie and so made her an answere after this maner If your daughter said they be not ouer-faire we are content to receiue her If she be the malice ye knowe of the wordle is such that you shal hassard the good name both of your daughter and of all vs. And therfore we maie in no wise receiue her Wherunto the mother answered and said Come your selues and iudge whether she be faire or no. Whervpon they sent two discreete matrons chosen out emonge them selues to goe and consider both of the state of her bodie and also how she was affected in mynd Which coming to the howse fownd the maid lying sicke on her bed and by sickenes so altered that they might not well discerne the diposition of her bodie Howbeit by her wordes they sawe verie euidently that she had a meruelous feruent desire in her hart to serue God wherat they were both verie much astoined also verie glad to see so yong a maid to passe a nomber of auncient women in vertue and godlines And so taking their leaue there they went home to the rest of their companie and declared vnto them what they had heard seene Vpon the which report they communicated the matter to the brethren of the Order and that done resolued with a full consent to receiue her into the habite sending word to the mother that so soone as her daughter was recouered she should bring her without anie longer delaie The which tidinges was so ioyful to the yong virgin that she wept for verie ioye and thanked God and S. Dominicke that it pleased them at the lenght to perfourme their promise And then she began to alter the tenour of her praier for wheras before she was euermore glad of bodilie sickenesses and diseases now contrariwise she besought our Lord in most humble earnest maner that he would vowchsafe to deliuer her out of hand from that infirmitie of bodie that staied her there from the accomplishing of her vowe and purpose referring her selfe notwithstanding in all thinges to the holie will and disposition of almightie God Who gaue eare to the inward groanyng of his faithful spowse and graunted her petition in such sort that she receiued foorth with both health of bodie and also the habite that she so much longed after And bicause she was the first virgin that was receiued into that habite she was also accounted afterwardes the head and sowndresse of all the virgins that by her example were admitted into the same Order Of the holie Vowes designementes and exercises which the blessed virgin vsed after the receiuing of the habite and what effectual exhortations she made to excite her selfe to the seruice of God Chap. 15. When she had receiued the habite though it were not the maner in that Order to make a publike and solēne profession yet she made a ful prefecte resolution frō the botome of her hart to serue God in extreme pouertie and streight obedience the which she obserued so precisely that at the verie tyme when she was to passe out of this life she said boldly that she could not remember that she had euer transgressed or failed in anie thing that was commaunded her by her superiors were it neuer so litle Her pouertie also was so perfecte that in all her life she did not only her selfe not possesse or desire anie things that were superfluous but besought almightie God also most hartely for her father and mother brethren and sisters that it would please hin to diminish their state and substance to the end that a nomber of occasions and inducementes vnto synne which are commonly annexed with the aboundance of earthlie thinges might be taken awaie from them and they by lacke necessitie brought to remēber God and to flee vnto him for succour and helpe in their distresse And it was euidently seene that her praier was heard for it fell so out by the prouident goodnes of God that they came in deed to great penurie and lacke by strange chaunces without anie fault on their part Now being thus newly entred into the discipline of the sissters penitentes she tooke such a passing delite in the obseruation of the rule and had such a desire and earnest longyng to atteine to the perfection of spiritual life that she would speake to her selfe at tymes after this maner Loe Catherine thou art now entred into a state of religion frō hence foreward thou must take an other trade of life and not liue as thou hast done hitherto Let the wordle passe now begynne to thinke of religion dost thou not consider the colour of the habite which thou hast taken and what it meaneth Thyne ynner garment is white to geaue thee to vnderstand that thou must be inwardly white and pure of life without anie mixture of anie vncleannes Thyne outward garment is blacke wherby thou art put in mynd to mortifie thy flesh with new watching fasting and praier and with other the like workes of austeritie Thou must now fight manfully and subdue thy rebellious flesh Thou must die to the wordle and liue only to thy spowse Looke thou therfore what is required of thee to doe and not what most men doe Thou hast taken the streight way that leadeth to life wherfore it behoueth thee to streighten thy selfe and to walke warily in this waie Thy spowse teacheth thee that this is the waie that fewe take which is a warnyng to thee that thou must haue an eye not to the multitude but to the fewest and best For the waie of the greater nomber of men is wide and leadeth to damnation These and other the like speeches she would vse at tymes to stirre vp her selfe to the better obseruation of her godlie vowes and designementes And emong other thinges she determined to keepe a verie strange rigorous maner of silence In so much that for the space of three yeares she neuer spake with anie creature but only with her ghostlie Father with him she spake only in cōfession not otherwise Out of her cell she neuer went vnlesse it were to the Church to heare Masse or some other diuine seruice And bicause she began then to eate none other meate but only bread and rawe herbes she needed not to goe out for anie other prouision She determined neuer to goe to take anie repast or bodilie sustenance without much weeping before as though that had ben a cōuenient antepast to procure an appetite After this maner she fownd the meanes to find
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
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
tyme as that she might be able to goe succour that poore woman Anon after feeling her selfe meruelously well comforted she rose vp early in the mornyng and filled her sacke with corne she tooke two great flascats also one of wyne and an other of oyle and withal whatsoeuer she fownd in the howse meete to be eaten And when she had laid this prouision together thinking it impossible to carrie it all at once to the widoes howse which was farre from thence the thinges weighed no lesse then an hūdred powndes she cast vp her hart to her spowse and besought him of his gracious assistance That done she began to trie with a stowte hart what she was able to doe Some part she laid vpon her shoulders some she trussed vnder her gyrdle some she carried in her right hand and some in her lefte And when she had loded her selfe with all this burthen she felt no more of it then if it had ben a wad or wispe of strawe but so soone as the common bell of the citie had rong before the which tyme it was not lawful for anie persone to walke in the streetes she tooke her waie towardes the poore widowes howse and went so light on the grownd not withstanding all that heauie waight of prouision and great feeblenes of bodie withall as if she had caried nothing but had ben caried her selfe as in truth she was But when she was almost come to the howse the burthen that seemed before verie light became so heauie and paineful to her that she thought she could not beare it one foote further The which strange alteration when she felt in her selfe she conceiued foorthwith that it was the will of God that it should so be And therefore she turned her selfe to him with a great affiance in his mercie and made her humble petition to him that he would vowchasafe to ease her againe and make her able to goe thorough with her burthen And with that finding her selfe to haue receiued sufficient strength to beare it out she held on her waie till she came to the widowes doore which by the prouision of God she found halfe open And so putting it from her softely with her hand she laid in her prouision with as litle noyse as was possible Howbeit it was not done so priuily but that the widowe awaked withal The which she perceiuing made awaie as fast as she could But there came vpon her euen at that instant such a feeblenes and withal such a heauisomenes of bodie that she was not able to crawle awaie though her life had lyen on it Wherefore turnyng her selfe to our Lord with a heauie hart bicause she feared lest her being there alone at that tyme of the daie might be scandalous to weake myndes and yet on the other side with a cheereful and smyling countenance bicause she sawe it was the will and pleasure of her spowse so to dalie with her betweene game and earnest as it were she spake vnto him after this maner O my deere Lord whie hast thou thus deceiued me Shall it doe well thinkest thou that all the worlde laugh me to scorne Is it thy pleasure that all the neighbours here see my folie and hold me for a verie foole and sott See o Lord the daie cometh on fast which will discouer me to the worlde and so shall I be taken for a fantastical woman or peraduenture for worse O my good Lord and sweet loue of my hart hast thou now forgoten thyne old mercies shewed from tyme to tyme to me thyne vnworthie handmaid Geue me I beseech thee so much strength that I maie be able to returne home to my chamber and then laie vpon me so much weakenes as pleaseth thee With that she enforced her selfe the best she could to creepe with hand and foote vpon the grownd and while she was so creeping she spake to her bodie after this maner liue thou die thou awaie thou must Whether thou be able or not able here is no being And therefore on a Gods name And so what with going and what with crawling she wonne a litle grownd But before she could get out of sight the poore widowe came downe seeing her in the street and no moe but her knewe by her habite whoe it was that had done her that charitable pleasure Thē our Lord heard the groanyng of his deere spowse and pitying her poore case gaue her so much strength that she gate home before it was brode daie Where she receiued great cōfort of mynd in cōsideratiō of Gods mercie and louing kindnes towardes her and withall her ould diseases feeblenes of bodie for her further increase of grace merite An other verie notable example of her great Charitie towardes the poore Chap. 6. WHile this holie maid was on a tyme in S. Dominickes Church there came by her a poore man and besought her for Gods loue that she would geue him somewhat To whom bicause she had nothing there to geue for it was not her maner to beare neither gold nor syluer about her she spake verie gently and praied him that he would haue so much patience as to tarrie there till she might goe home and come againe The poore man made answere that he could not tarrie so long but if she had anie thing there to geue she should geue it for otherwise he must needes goe his waie She was loth that he should goe from her without somwhat therefore bethought her selfe carefully what thing she might haue about her to serue that poore mans need Anon it came to her mynd that she had a litle crosse of syluer that hong by her beades which she brake of with all speed gaue it gladly to the poore man Who likewise when he had receiued this almes at her hand went his waie and was seene no more to begge that daie as though his coming had ben for that Crosse only The night folowing while this deuout virgin was occupied in praier after her accustomed maner our Sauiour Christ appeered vnto her hauing that same Crosse in his hand set with diuerse and sundrie precious stones and said vnto her Daughther knowest thou this Crosse Yea Lord said she I knowe it right well but it was not so richly decked when I had it Then said our Lord to her againe Yesterdaie thou gauest me this Crosse with a chereful hart and great charitie which great loue and charitie is signified by these precious stones And therefore I promise thee that at the daie of iudgement I will shewe the same in the presence of all men and Angels to the great increase of thyne euerlasting ioye and glorie For I will not hide nor suffer to be hiden such deedes of charitie as are done by thee With that this apparition ceased and left her replenished with vnspeakeable ioye and gladnes And from that tyme foreward there increased in her a passing great desire of relieuing the poore An other verie wonderful example of her
she was come the sicke woman which was now verie weake in bodie but well strengthened in spirite made signes of great reuerence and ioye and partly with woordes as well as she could partly with tokens and gestures of bodie and countenance she lamented her vncharitable demeanour towardes her and besought her of mercy and pardon That done she made her cōfession with great humilitie and contrition so receiuing the Sacramentes rightes of holie Church she yealded vp her soule to God At what tyme it pleased almightie God to shewe to the holie virgin what a blesful beautiful state that saued sowle was in which as she declared afterwardes to her ghostlie father was so great that no tongue of man is able to expresse it And yet was not this that beawtie that she should receiue afterwardes in the blesse of heauen but only that godlie state that the sowle had in her first creation and receiued againe at the tyme of her Baptisme Thē said our Lord to the holie maid How saiest thou my deere daughter is not this a faire and goodlie sowle which through thy paines and diligēce is now recouered out of the hādes of the enemie What man or woman would refuse to take paines for the wynning of such a beawtiful creature If I which am the most high and soueraigne beawtie and of whom proceedeth all maner of beawtie was notwithstāding so ouercome with the loue and beawtie of mans sowle that I refused not to come downe from heauen to clad my selfe with the simple weede of mans bodie in the same to susteine labours and reproches for the space of manie daies and yeares and in the end to shed myne owne blood for his redemption yet had I no need of mans sowle but was most sufficiently and most perfectly blessed in my selfe how much more ought you to labour one for an other and doe what in you lieth for the recouerie of such a noble and excellent creature For this cause haue I shewed thee the beawtie of this sowle that hereafter thou mightest both thy selfe be the more earnest about the wynnyng of sowles and also procure others to doe the like With that she thanked our Lord in most humble maner and besought him furthermore that he would vowchsafe to geue her a newe grace which was that she might from that tyme foreward be able to see the state and condicions of all such sowles as should by occasions haue anie conuersation or dealing about spiritual matters with her that by the sight of the same she might be the more prouoked to procure their saluation Vnto the which demaund our Lord made answere after this maner Daughter bicause thou hast forsaken all carnal conuersation for my sake and hast by all meanes laboured to vnite thy selfe to me in spirite which am the most excellent and soueraigne spirite therefore I here make thee a full graunt that from this verie instant thy soule shal be endewed with such a gracious light that thou shalt see and behold both the beawtie and also the deformitie of euerie sowle that is presented before thee And as hitherto thou hast seene the proportion and qualitie of bodies with thy bodilies eyes euen so from this tyme foreward thou shalt see the condicions of sowles with the spiritual eye of thy sowle not only of such as shal be present before thee but also of all other for whose sowles health thou shalt make intercession to me though thou neuer see them with thy bodilie eyes How she serued an old widdowe that had a festered sore runnyng vpon her by whom she was also infamed And of diuerse strange accidentes that ensued vpon the same Chap. 11. THere was emong the sisters of penance one sister called Andrea who had vpon her brest a verie lothsome sore commonly called a Canker This sore had fretted and eaten so much flesh rownd about and the corruption of the same yealded such an horrible sauour that none might come neere for stench By reason whereof there was none fownd that would attend vpon her in her sickenes The which thing when the holie maid vnderstood she went out of hand to visite her and seeing her vtterly forsaken and destitute of all succour and comfort she made her selfe well assured that the prouidence of God had reserued that sister for her keeping And so accepting the charge of her as at Gods hand she began to speake comfortable wordes vnto her and to make her a free offer of her owne person to attend and serue her to the vttermost of her power which made the widowe a glad woman The holie maid therefore set her selfe to the seruice of that poore woman she tooke care for her that she might haue whatsoeuer was necessarie or requisite for a woman in that case when tyme was she opened her sore clensed it of all the fowle matter she was shed it and wypt it and couered it againe with plaisters and cleane clothes and in all this she neuer shewed so much as one litle token of lothsomenes but did euerie thing with such diligence and cheerefulnes that the sicke sister was astoined to see so great loue and charitie in a maid of those yeares But the malicious feend who hath great enuie at all workes of charitie bent him selfe to doe all that in him laie to disannull if it were possible if not at the least to hinder this godlie and merciful enterprise so much as might be And first of all vpon a daie as the holie maid was about to open the sore to dresse it there came out such an horribile stench that she could hardly beare it but that she must needes vomite The which thing when she perceiued she entred into a passing great choler and displeasure against her owne skeymish bodie ane stomake and said to her selfe Ah vile and wretched flesh dost thou loath thy sister whom our Lord hath bought so deerely euen with the price of his owne most precious blood The daie maie come when thou also maiest fall into the like sickenes or peraduenture worse As I am a Christian woman thou shalt abide for it And with that she bowed downe and held her mowth and nose ouer the sore so long vntill at the length it seemed that she had comforted her stomake quite ouercome the skeymishnes that she felt before All the which tyme he sicke sister cried out vnto her and said Good daughter stand vp good daughter geue ouer cast not thy selfe awaie endanger not thy bodie with this infectuous sauour But she would neuer geue ouer vntill she had ouercome both the tew lines of her owne stomake and also the tentation of the ghostlie enemie When the suttle serpent sawe that this his assault was thus repelled being vtterly in despaire of anie better successe against that holie virgin which stood euermore like a strong fortresse well furnished defenced he deuised to laie his batterie to the weake woman whom he knewe to be of lesse experience and
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
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
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
litle before euen song tyme being in the Church occupied in praier manie reuelations were shewed to her by S. Dominicke him selfe and by diuerse other Sainctes The which reuelations were so familiar to her that she was able at one tyme both to geue heed to them and also to declare the same to others While she was thus occupied it chaunced that brother Barthelmewe her Confessours companion entred into the Church in whom she had as great affiance as in her Confessour him selfe for in her Confessours absence he was her ghostlie Father When she perceiued that he was come she arose and went towardes him and said that she had to conferre with him concernyng certaine reuelations Wherupon they sate downe together in the Church and she began to declare to him manie strange thinges that our Lord had reuealed to her Emong other thinges she declared to him that at that verie instant while she was speaking to him she sawe her holy father S. Dominicke there present as well as she sawe the Friar that sate by her and that he was neerer to her then the Friar was In this meane tyme while she was thus declaring to him manie wonderful reuelatiōs it happened that hir yonger brother whose name was also Barthelmewe came by And she seeing by like the shadowe of his bodie or els hearing the noise of his feete cast her eye a litle a side and beheld her brother and so thought to returne to her foremer discourse againe But considering with her selfe what she had done she was toched at the hart with such an inward grief for that litle distraction that for a good tyme she held her peace and spake not one word but wept and wailed verie bitterly At the length the Friar that was there seeing that she made no end of weeping spake comfortable wordes vnto her and praied her that she would goe foreward in her godlie talke But she so sobbed and wept that she was not able to geue him one word to answere After a long spcae when she had wonne so much of her selfe that she was able to speake she began with her selfe after this maner Ah wretch that thou art thou shalt surely abide for it With that Friar Barthelmewe asked her what offence that should be that she tooke so heauiely Out vpon me vile wretch said she sawe you not while our Lord was shewing me his great mysteries and secrets how I turned myne eye a side to behold a creature Then the good man who had great wonder to see the tendernes of her conscience and therfore desired to excuse or qualifie her offence said vnto her Surrely mother it seemeth verie strange to me that you should make so great lamentation for a matter of so light importance for that turnyng aside for your eye endured so litle tyme that I assure you I could not espie it O father said she if you knewe how sharply our blessed Ladie rebuked me for that trespas vndoubtedly you would weepe and lament with me When she had said those wordes she held her peace and would speake no more of her reuelations but continued sorrowing and weeping for her offence vntill such tyme as she had made her Confession and so with heauie cheere she went home to her chamber She declared afterwardes to her ghostlie Father that S. Paul appeered to her also and reprooued her so roughly for that litle losse of tyme that she would rather suffer all the shame of the worlde then abide such an other rebuke at the Apostles hand And of that rebuke she tooke occcasion to speake to her ghostlie Father after this maner O Father saide shee thinke you what a confusion and shame that shal bee that all wicked and vnhappie synners shall abide at the later daie when they shal stand before the maiestie of God seeing that the presence of one only Apostle is so dreadfull and intolerable I assure you father the apostles wordes and contenance were so terrible to me that if I had not had comfort of a goodlie bright lampe that stood by while he spake to me I thinke verily my hart had neuer ben able to abide the same but would haue dyed for verie sorrowe that it had of that extreme shame and confusion And thus it pleased God now and then to put her in mynd of her owne frailtie especially after such great reuelations which otherwise might haue moued her hart to pride How it pleased God to reueale to her the worthynes and excellencie of the blessed Partriarke S. Dominicke and of his true children Chap 25. ON a tyme conferring with Friar Barthelmewe of the reuelations that our Lord had shewed vnto her emong other thinges she declared that she had seene in deed by a vision of imagination how almightie God the Father brought foorth his coequal true Sōne as it seemed to her by his mouth the which Sonne in the nature of mankind which he had taken shewed him selfe to her also in the substāce and fourme of a true man She sawe likewise how almightie God brought foorth the glorious patriarke S. Dominicke not out of his mouth but out of his brest enuironed round about with a meruelous goodlie light and brightnes And she heard a voice proceeding from the mouth of almightie God which said these wordes Deere daughter I haue brought forth as thou seest these two sonnes the one naturally the other by adoption She was much amazed at the strangenes of that comparision made betweene the Sonne of God and S. Dominicke Whereupon the voice proceded and declared the meanyng of it after this maner As this my natural Sonne was in his humane nature which he tooke euermore most perfectly obedient to me euen to death so was this my some by adoption obedient to me in all pointes euen from his childhood to his dying daie and directed all his workes according to my commaundementes and kept that puritie both of bodie and soule which he receiued of me in Baptisme cleane and vnspotted vntill the end of his life And as this my natural Sonne spake openly to the wordle and gaue a most cleere testimonie to the truth that I put in his mouth euen so did this my sonne by adoption preach the truth of my gospel as well to heretikes and scismatikes as also emong my faithful people And as this my natural Sonne sent out his disciples to publish the gospel to all creatures so doth this my sonne by adoption now at this present and shall hereafter from tyme to tyme send out his brethren and children vnder the yoke of his holie obedience discipline And for this cause is it graunted to him and his by special priuilege that they shall haue the true vnderstanding of my wordes and shall neuer swarue from the same And as this my natural Sonne ordained the state of his whole life in deedes and wordes to the saluation of soules euen so did this my Sonne by adoption emploie him selfe wholly both in his doctrine and in example
restitution both of the one and the other to wite both of the honour of God and also of the saluation of man was appointed by God to be wrought by the meane of his Crosse therfore he had euermore a meruelous great desir to come vnto it which desire was vndoubtely a verie cordial and continual Crosse vnto him and neuer ended vntill the tyme came that his bodie was in deed stretched out and nailed vpon the tree of the Crosse She reasoned yet further concerning that Crosse of desire and said thus No man liuing is able to make a iust estimate of the paines and tormentes that our Sauiour suffred in his hart by reason of the desire that he had to paie the debt of mankind to deliuer them from the sentence of death and to bring them againe into the fauour of God They only that loue God with all their hart with all their sowle with all their strength and their neighbour as them selues maie ghesse in some degree what his paine was Such good men maie iudge in part by the loue that they haue thē selues to the honour of God and saluation of man and by the griefe that they feele in them selues when the thing that they loue is either taken awaie or long delaied what his griefe was They maie iudge I saie in part not perfectly forsomuch as the loue that man hath or can haue to the honour of God and saluation of man be it neuer so great is nothging in comparison of that passing great loue that was in the hart of our Sauiour Christ And therfore the desire that he had to recouer both the one and the other must needes cawse in him a greater sorrowe without all comparison then euer was or could be in man vntill he sawe an effectual and perfecte restitution made to God of his honour and reuerence to man of his former state of grace in this presente life and of glorie in the life to come And thus much he signified to his disciples when he said those wordes I haue had an earnest desire to eate this passeouer with you and afterwardes likewise when in his praier to God the father he said Father take awaie this cup from me Which is as if he had said in plaine wordes Father I see here prepared for me a verie bitter cup of most sharpe tormentes and death which I haue droncke continually in desire euen from the hower of my conception but now do begynne to drincke the same in deed and so to make an end of drincking this paineful potion of the Crosse which I desire thee to hasten and bring to an end For that being once passed and gone I shall reape the frute of my long and earnest desire to witte I shall haue fulfilled myne obedience in all pointes to thee restitution shal be made perfectly to God of his due honour to man of his foremer state And I desire not to haue this cup of my passion taken awaie which thou hast here made readie for me which I take at thy fatherly hand like an obedient sonne and drincke it willingly but I desire to haue that cup taken awaie from me and ended which I haue droncke with such an earnest and greedie desire so manie yeares for the loue that I beare to thyne honour and to the saluation of mankind This was the exposition that she made vpon this place of the gospel against the which bicause it seemed straung and singular her ghostlie Father doctour Raimundus reasoned after this maner Mother said he you knowe that the holie Fathers do commonly geue an other interpretation to this place almost contrarie to this that you haue said They saie that our Lord desired in deed rather not to drincke that cup then to drinke it meanyng therby to declare to vs that he was true man and that as true man his flesh did naturally abhorre death as the flesh of euerie man doth And by this he would geue a doctrine and withall an example in him selfe to all weake and fraile men that they should not be dismaied though they felt in them selues that they did feare death Forsomuch as the like feare frailtie was seene in our head also who tooke vpon him all our infirmities onlie synne excepted To this the holie maid made answere thus Father said she I knowe right well that the holie doctours do expound this place as you haue said and I find no fault with their exposition And though this interpretation that our Lord hath taught me seeme diuerse or almost contrarie as you thinke to that yet is it verie true and maie well stand with the common exposition of the holie Fathers Father it is certaine that our Sauiour Christ was head not only of the weake and fraile that feare and flee death but also of the strong and mightie that beare it manfully and yeald not to the feare and shrynking of the flesh And therfore he would in this acte and wordes geue a doctrine and example to them both He would tremble and feare and desire that the bitter cup of his passiō might passe awaie to geue an example to the weake that they might likewise feare and flee death without anie offence if they had no commaundement from God to the cōtrarie He would also ouercome that feare and quaking of the flesh by the force of reason and zeale of Gods honour and desire his Father to hasten that cup of his passion and death to geue an example to the strong that they should not yeald to the frailtie of the flesh and shrincke at the terrour of death but folowe the direction of the spirite and offer them selues valiantly to tormentes and to death it selfe when by so doing they might either honour God or edifie their neighbour And I see no cause whie one place of the scripture should not haue manie interpretations forsomuch as the holie scripture as you knowe hath manie senses and meanynges Which the holie Ghost hath so ordained that the holie scripture might serue diuerse and sundrie persones to diuerse and sundrie effectes As we see this present text being diuersely expounded serueth men of diuerse qualitie to verie good purpose The weake for a refuge if they retire and saue them selues the strong for a warrant if they steppe forewardes and offer them selues to euident danger for Gods sake Then if you aske me how these two interpretations maie stand together the one being contrarie to the other for by the one our Sauiour required that the cup of his passion might be hastened by the other that it might passe awaie I answere that I take it for none inconuenience that in that agonie he should haue those two contrarie effectes in him selfe the one according to the flesh whose propertie it is naturally to repine at anie thing that maie hurt the other according to the spirite which looking to the honour of God and saluation of mankind desired earnestly the bitter cup of his death by the drinking wherof he knewe
was depriued of that passing great ioye and felicitie and sent backe againe to this darcke prison of my bodie Thus much I thought good to signifie to you father and to others also for this end that when you vnderstand what a blesful state of life I haue forgon for a tyme God knoweth howe long and that I haue forgon the same by the ordinance of God for the weale and edifyng of soules you should not meruaile hereafter if you see that I beare a great loue to them who haue cost me so deere and that to wynne them to God I do alter the state of my life and conuerse with them more familiarly then I haue done hitherto When doctour Raimundus had heard thus much he gaue a great charge to as manie as were present of the brethren and sisters that they should in no wise vtter anie part of her talke so long as she liued For being a wise man he sawe that wordlie persones such as had not wholly and perfectly subiected all their vnderstandinge to the power of Christe were like to take more harme by it then good And he sawe then presently by experience that some of her owne scholers which had before that tyme heard and folowed her doctrine went backeward bicause they were not able to apprehend the high mysteries that she vttered vnto them But after her death fearing lest he should haue offended God if he had concealed such great workes and wonders he committed all to writing for the benefite of the posteritie For further confirmation wherof I thinke it not amisse to towch briefely a verie notable thing that it pleased our Lord to worke by her while she was so seperated from her bodie At what tyme this holie maid drewe neere to her death to the seemyng of such as were about her there resorted vnto her diuerse and sundrie of her spiritual children to see the maner of her passage and with them manie deuout persones both men and women By whome her Confessour doctour Thomas was also sent for to be present at her departure and to helpe her as the maner is with the praiers and Sacramentes of holie Church Who came speedily and three other of his brethren with him When they sawe that she had geuen vp the Ghost they lamented all for the losse of their deere mother but aboue the rest one of the religious brethren whose name was brother Iohn of Siena sorowed so much and wept so vehemently that he brake a vaine in his brest by reason wherof he coughed and auoided great gobbettes of blood Which was an occasion of double sorowe to as manie as were there for both they lamented the decease of the holie virgin which was alreadie gone and also the peril of that good man who with such paine was not like to continue long after Wherupon doctour Thomas her Cōfessour being inwardly moued with compassion said to that sicke Friar with a great faith and affiance in God Brother Iohn you knowe that this holie maid was of verie great merite and estimation in the sight of almightie God for her vertuous conuersation Wherfore take her hand and put it to the place of your bodie where you feele your selfe aggrieued And I doubt not but that you shal find helpe and comfort He did as he was willed and foorthwith the disease of his brest lefte him and neuer came againe so long as he liued There was present at all these doinges besides these afore named one of her spiritual daughters called Alexa who departed out of this wordle not long after There were also two other of the sisters of penance who came to make the bodie readie for the burial One of them was named Catherine which had bene her companion long tyme in religion the other was her cosen and was called Pisa These spirituall persons with many other gaue testimonie for the truthe of all this matter but aboue all others Friar Ihon did not only testifie it in wordes as other did but also declared the maner of it and affirmed it constantly in all places wheresoeuer he became How she had a meruelous deuotion and longyng after the blessed Sacrament and how she bare manie reproaches and slaunders for the same Chap. 30. THis holy maide had such an earneste longinge after the blessed Sacramente of our Lordes body and blood and receiued the same so often that manie of them that resorted to that Church and saw hir verie often at the Aultar to receiue supposed that she had communicated daylie Which was an occasion of greate trouble both to her and to her Confessor by certaine vndiscreet and ignorant persons who being puffed vp with an opinion of knowledg and withall pretending some colour of pietie said that her often receiuing was not to be liked bicause it would in tyme cause her to haue the blessed Sacrament in lesse reuerence and estimation Which vaine and ignorant supposition her Confessour answered very learnedly alleaging most certaine and infallible groundes first out of the Actes of the Apostles where it is writen by S. Luke that the disciples of Christ and such as were newly turned to the faith by them did continue daily in breaking of bread that is in receiuing of the blessed Sacrament then also out of S. Denyse S. Pauls scholer who declareth likewise in his booke intituled Ecclesiastica Hierarchia that in the primitiue Church the faithful people did vse to communicate euerie daie and last of all out of the holie ghospel where we are taught by our Sauiour him selfe to saie in our dailie praier Geue vs this daie our daily bread Which bread maie in deed signifie our bodilie food and sustenance but not only nor principally for the bread that we ought principally to seeke at Gods hand euerie daie is the bread of our soule or rather to speake truly the bread of our soule and bodie Which is the bodie and blood of our Sauiour Christ really substantially ministred vnto the faithful people in the Church vnder the forme of bread in the holie Sacrament of the aulter But contrariwise for confirmation of their opinion they alleaged to the holie maid a saying of S. Augustine whose wordes are these To communicate daily is a thing which I neither praise nor blame Which fond allegatiton she answered her selfe verie pretily saying If it be so said she that S. Augustine will not blame me wherefore do you blame me As who should saie If S. Augustine who was a great learned man and knewe how to directe his iudgement by the rules of Gods word durst not take vpon him to determine the matter lest he should seeme to set him selfe a iudge ouer other mens consciences how dare you to iudge of my conscience and to blame me for often receiuing considering that the thing being in it selfe indifferent is made either verie good or verie euel according to the disposition of the persone that receiueth verie good and holesome if it be receiued worthely verie euel and pernicious if it
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
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
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
especially Ginoccia which of the two liued in greater austeritie and penance When their brother Iames who was at that tyme abroade heard tell of this strange alteration of his two sisters he raged like a mad man and cursed all them that had moued his sisters to take that habite And he threatned verie boldly that he would teare those garmentes from their backes and bring them home againe And no man durst aduenture to staie him in that rage but only a yong brother of his that was in companie with him at that tyme who spake to him after this maner Brother Iames said he you are not acqueinted with this sister Catherine But if you goe to Siena you shall see she shall turne you also and make you to goe Confession To Confetsion said he I defie thee and them all Assure thy selfe I will cut the throtes of all those Priestes and friars before they shall bring me to confession Well brother said the child and he repeated his wordes oftentymes speaking with great affiance as though he had foreseene the euent of this matter in the spirite of prophecie you shall find my wordes true and shall see that the holie maid shall bring you to grace Those wordes set him in such a furie that he cursed and banned and fared like a man distracted And in this furie he entred into the citie and went foorth with to his fathers house where he tooke on like a madd man threatnyng and swearing that he would doe manie horrible mischiefes vnlesse they brought to passe that his sisters and specially Ginoccia might put off that habite and come home againe But his mother Rabes who was well acqueinted with his furious nature therefore feared lest he would of a sodaine do some mischieuous acte as his maner was came to him and with faire wordes staied his rage that he did no harme that night And the next morning she sent for Doctour Thomas beseeching him for Gods sake that he would take the paines to come and geue her sonne Iames some godlie exhortation Doctour Thomas came with him frier Bartilmewe And they spake manie good wordes to the impatient yong man but for ought that they could perceiue all in vaine All this tyme was the holie maid in praier and laboured earnestly to wynne that yong mans soule to God for she vnderstood not by the relation of anie man but only by reuelation from God in what a damnable state he stood and she sawe in spirite what paines those good men tooke to recouer him And it was euidently seene afterwardes by the proofe that our Lord blessed and furthered their charitable trauaile in that behalfe for the holie maides sake and in contemplation of her deuout praiers For when these men had spent a good tyme about him and sawe that they could doe him no good at the length while Doctour Bartilmewe was speaking to him behold of a sodaine and contrarie to all expectation the yong man being vndoubtedly touched by the finger of God resented and said of him selfe that he was verie well content and glad that his sisters should serue God in that holie rule and discipline And he required furthermore with great humilitie that he might be Confessed and absolued of his owne synnes that he might serue God with them also The which he did in deed verie perfectly to the great wonder and comfort of as manie as were there present which a litle before had seene him as fiercc as a lion and now as myld as a lambe His mother Rabes was a ioyful woman to see this strāge and blessed alteration in her sonne and so were all the rest of her familie with her Now when Doctour Thomas and Doctour Bartilmewe his companion had rendred thankes to almightie God for this great mercie shewed vpon that yong man they went out of hand with ioyful hartes towardes the holie maides lodging and thought the tyme long vntill they might impart these glad tidinges of his conuersion to her But when they came thither they vnderstood that the holie maid was aboue in an vpper chamber in praier and rauished as her maner was in spirite and one other of the sisters with her By reason wherof they were constreined to tarrie a while At the length when the holie maid was come to her selfe againe that other sister came downe to enterteine Doctour Thomas her Confessour who saluted her with a cheereful countenance and began foorthwith to declare the cause of his coming to her Sister said he we are come to bring you verie good newes Maister Iames Tolmes is by the grace of God become a newe man and this mornyng hath made a general Cōfession of all his synnes to Doctour Bartilmewe Father said that sister we haue great cause both to reioyse and also to thanke our Lord for these ioyful tydinges Howbeit they are no newes to vs for sister Catherine before I came downe to you told me so much as you tell me now And with that they went vp into the vpper chamber to the holie maid who immediatly vpon their entrie spake to them after this maner Fathers said she we are much bound to thanke our Lord and Sauiour that neuer dispiseth the humble praier of his seruantes And as he putteth holie desires into their hartes so doth he also accomplish the same to their benefite and comfort The wicked feend had thought to haue gotten a litle lambe of the which he had conceiued some hope But he hath through the vnspeakeable goodnes of God lost a great preie of the which he had full posession He laid for Ginoccia but he hath lost Iames. And so it falleth out oftentymes with this rauenous and insatiable wolfe that while he openeth his iawes wider to geat more he both letteth fall some better morsel that he had in his mouth before and yet misseth of that other thing that he so griedily snatcheth after Our Lord be blessed and thanked for euer more whose prouident wisedome disposeth all thinges sweetely and turneth the wilye malice of this suttle serpent to the benefit and comfort of his chosen seruantes After this Ginoccia continued without anie molestation in that holie state of life that she had vowed wherein when she had suffered manie sickenesses with a verie patient and cheereful mynd she passed out of this wordle to God with a meruelous inward sweetnes and comfort as it was euidently seene by the maner of her departure Soone after her sister Francis likewise tooke the habite and rule of the sisters of penance and therein continued with great commendation and opinion of holines so long as she liued which was in deed no long tyme. And it was noted of her also at the tyme of her passing out of this life that she smyled sweetely and shewed great tokens of spiritual ioye euen when she was at the verie point of death And this Iames their brother after that he was thus reclaimed by the deuout praier of the holie maid and diligence of
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
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
was done who gaue commaundement and all thinges visible and inuisible were created This strange miracle was wrought before so manie witnesses that it was in a verie litle tyme bruted thoroughout the whole citie And the yong man him selfe that was cured within a fewe daies after came to Doctour Raimundus as he was passing by the citie so fat and in such good liking that the Doctour did scantly knowe him and before a great multitude of men and women recited the whole maner of the miracle as it hath ben declared here before and thanked God and the holie maid most humbly for the benefite of his health which he confessed he had receiued perfectly at Gods handes by her meanes and intercession One of the sisters of penance called Gemina being so extremely pained with a disease of the throte commonly called the Squynancie that so often as she tooke breath it seemed that she was in great danger of strangling found the meanes to be brought where the holie maid was and besought her of helpe The holie maid being moued with compassion laid her hand vpon the sisters throte and made the signe of the Crosse vpon it and foorth with the disease lefte her and she returned home againe with great ioye When the holie maid went from Pisa to Auinion there were in her companie two deuout yong men that wrote her letters the one called Nerius Landoccius de Pagliar ensibus which afterwardes forsooke the worlde vtterly became an Heremite the other Steuen Corradi which likewise gaue ouer the world at her commandement and became a Christian in the which rule discipline he lead a verie streight holie life Now when the holy maid returned from Auinion into Italie againe and was come to the citie of Genua it chaunced this Nerius to be taken with such a paineful gnawing and grieping in his bowels that he cried pitifully and crope vpon his handes and knees from place to place for he was not able to raise vp him selfe and could find no place where to rest And thus he continued daie and night without anie release in extreme paine and made great lamentation to the rest of the compaine which loued him all verie tenderly Wherupon doctour Raimundus with other of them wente to the holie maid and told her in what a lamentble case the poore man stood She shewed that she had great compassion on him but she gaue them no word of comfort or hope of recouerie as she was wont to doe at other tymes but contrariwise willed them to seeke to the phisicions and cause them to minister to the sickeman When they sawe that the would put them in no maner of comfort they sent out of hand for two learned phisicions which came and ministred to him with great diligence and their precptes were obserued verie precisely But the man recouered not but ratherwaked worse worse in so much that at the length the phisicions them selues said to doctour Raimundus that they despaired of his health The which iudgement of the phisicions when doctour Raimundus declared afterwards to the rest of the compaine as he was sitting with them at supper that other yong man called Steuen of whome mention is made before rose vp sodainly from the table with great feruour and vehemencie of spirite and went to the holie maids chamber and there casting him selfe downe at her feet wept bitterly and besought her in most humble maner that she would not suffer his brother companion to die in the waie and his bodie to be buried in a strange land especially considering that he had taken that iourney vpon him for Gods sake and for a charitable cause With those wordes she was inwardly touched and said vnto him Sonne if God will now take your brother Nerius from you reward him for all his paines in heauen me thinketh yee should not be sorie for it but rather reioice O good mother said he I praie you heare me at this tyme and helpe him for I doubt not but that you are able to doe it if you will Then she being no longer able to refraine her motherlie affection spake thus vnto him Sonne my meanyng was to exhort you that you should comforme your will to the will of God But now seeing you are so much afflicted to morrowe in the mornyng when I goe to heare Masse and to receiue the blessed Sacrament put me in mynd and I promise you that I will offer vp your petition vnto God In the meane tyme praie you to God for me that it maie please him to heare my praier Steuen was glad of that promise and the next daie he waited diligently for her And when she went to heare Masse he kneeled downe before her verie humbly and said I praie you good mother remember your promise made to me yester night With that she went to heare Masse and after Masse receiued And when she had receiued she continued a certaine tyme abstracted from her bodilie senses as her maner was So soone as she came to her selfe againe she spake to Steuen who attended there with a cheereful countenance and said Yee haue obteined the grace that yee desire What said he shall Nerius recouer Yea said she for certaine Nerius shall recouer for our Lord hath graunted him vnto vs. When Steuen heard that he ranne to Nerius and told him what comfortable wordes the holie maid had spoken After that the phisicions came againe to the sicke man and considering diligently of the state of his bodie pronounced plainely that they sawe no hope of life in him But whatsoeuer they sawe in natural causes Nerius was by the almightie power of God restored to perfecte health within a fewe daies euen as the holie maid had said Soone after the recouerie of this man it chaunced the same Steuen to fall sicke also being as it was thought ouercharged with watching and paines that he had taken about the said Nerius He was sore pained with streynyng and vomiting and withal with a passing great head ach The which thing when it was signified to the holie maid by the rest of the house who were all verie sorie for him she went foorthwith to his beds side where he laie and asked him how he did and felt his pulses Whereby she perceiued well that he had a verie sharpe feuer Then she spake to him with great feruour of spirite and said these wordes I commaund thee in the vertue of holie obedience that thou be no more sicke of this ague She had no sooner spoken those wordes but that Steuen was fully and perfectly deliuered of his ague and sate vp and made merrie with the rest of his companie and they all together praised the goodnes of God that had geuen such power to the holie maid At what tyme the holie maid was in the citie of Florence about a treatie of peace betweene Pope Gregorie the eleuenth and the Florentines there was such a broile stirred in the citie by certaine euel disposed and
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
the citie or els to take him and so to put him to death the Romaines stood verie duetifully and fought manie skirmishes in the defence of their citie and bisshop In the which skirmishes manie of them especially of the inferiour sort were taken by the enemie and cruelly handled Some were tied vp against trees and so let alone that they might die a long and paineful death Some other that were thought to be of some abilitie to ransome them selues were lead into a brode field and there after diuerse and sundrie horrible tormentes fettered with chaines and boltes of yron Of these it was generally marcked that so manie as called vpon S. Caterine of Siena were foorthwith loosed of their bandes returned home to their owne houses And some of thē to doct Raimundus and declared to him and other how wonderfully our Lord had wrought for their deliuerance These thinges did almightie God worke to honour the holie virgin after her death burial with many other that were not writen through the negligēce of a certaine notarie whome doct Raimundus put in trust Bicause he was him selfe at that tyme an old man could not remember so manie thinges as were credibly reported to him so particularly so precisely as he knewe was requisite for the credit of a holie legend or historie of a Sainctes life Howbeit whatsoeuer lacked in him or in the notarie was in some degree supplied by the deuotion of thē that had receiued such benefites Of the which there came a meruelous great nōber both men women and offred vp as the maner is certaine images of wax vpō her tōbe in the which was expressed as wel as they could the maner of each miracle to the honour of God the worker and geuer of all good thinges and of his glorious spowse S. Caterine in contemplation of whose merites it pleased him to worke such good thinges at that tyme. A TABL OF THE CHAPTERS CONTEINED IN THE FIRST PART OF THIS BOOKE OF the birth and infancie of this holie virgin and of certeine wonderful tokens of holines that shewed in her euen at that age Chap. 1. Of a verie strange vision shewed vnto her and of certaine wonderful effectes of the loue of God towardes her and of her loue towardes God Chap. 2. Of a bold entreprise which this blessed infant made to liue a solitarie life after the maner of the auncient fathers in Egipt and how she vnderstood that it was not the wil of God that she should enter into that state of life as yet Chap. 3. How she vowed her virginitie vnto almightie God Chap. 4. Of a wonderful zeale that was in her to wynne soules to God and how for that cause she cast a great loue to S. Dominicke and to his order Chap. 5. How she relented somewhat in her spiritual exercises being thervnto induced by the importunitie of her mother sisters who woulde needes haue her to vse some diligence in trymyng her selfe And of the penance wich she did for that offence Chap. 6. How she recouered her wonted libertie in seruing God and was reconciled againe to her spowse How the persecutions that she susteined at home did not only not hurt her but also profit her much Chap. 7. Of her continuance in her feruent and deuout exercises and how her father sawe a doue ouer her head Of a singular affection that she bare to the habit of S. Dominicke and how it was declared vnto her by a cleere vision that she was heard How she preuailed against all those in the house that went about to hinder her holie designementes and vowes Chap. 8. Of her great abstinence Chap. 9. Of her great austeritie about her bed and apparel Chap. 10. Of her wonderful watching and of the griefe that her mother tooke for the same Chap. 11. How she beat her selfe for a long tyme thryce in the daie with a chaine of yron Chap. 12. How she desired earnestly to receiue the habite of S. Dominike and how her mother to turne her mynd lead her awaie to the batthes VVhat penance she did euen in the batthes Chap. 13. How she receiued the habite of S. Dominike and how she was the first virgin that receiued the same Chap. 14. Of the holie vowes designementes and exercises which the blessed virgin vsed after the receiuing of the habite And what effectual exhortations she made to excite her selfe to the seruice of God Chap. 15. Of diuerse and sundrie visions and reuelations shewed vnto her with a doctrine how to discerne betweene true and false visions Chap. 16. 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 An other goodlie doctrine by the which a sowle is made pure and meete to enioye 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. Certaine goodlie sayinges which she was wont to vse to excite her selfe and others to the perfection of charitie Chap. 19. Of the straunge batailes which she had against the deuel and how she a med her selfe with a strong faith and other heauenlie vertues and so gate a most glorious victorie ouer her enemie Chap. 20. How the enemie accompanied with a great multitude of vncleane spirites renewed his batterie against this strong fortresse and vsed greater enforcement then before Chap. 21. How our Lord with diuerse other Sainctes visited her oftentymes verie familiarly and how he taught her to read by miracle Chap. 22. How she increased so much in heauenlie contemplations that she was oftentymes rauished in the same and how she was espoused to our Saurour Christ with a ring Chap. 23. 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. A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CONTEINED IN THE SECOND PART OF THIS BOOKE HOw the spowse of Christ was made by litle and litle to shewe her selfe to the wordle Chap. 1. Of her vertuous and lowlie conuersation emong men and how she would debase her selfe to doe the vilest seruices in the house Of manie strange visitations excesses and trawnses which she had in the presence of manie Chap. 2. How being in a trawnse she fell into the fyer and there continued a good while without anie harme Chap. 3. Of diuerse and sundrie miracles like to this afore writen And how it pleased our Sauiour Christ to geue the enemie power ouer her bodie Chap. 4. VVhat a charitable affection and great care she had of the poore and of a pleasant matter that fell out about the same Chap 5. An other verie notable example of her great charitie towardes the poore Chap. 6. An other verie wonderfull example of her passing great charitie like to this afore writen Chap. 7. Of two euident miracles which our Lord
great perplexitie betweene sorrowe and ioye verie sorrowfull in consideration of the great scourges that he sawe were to come vpon the people of God and contrariwise verie ioyful in regard of that great good which he was likewise assured should insue of the same How the holie maid sawe the secret thoughtes of mens hartes and how she vsed that gyfte to the benefit of diuerse and sundrie persones Chap. 2. AS this holie maid being directed by the infallible light of Gods holie Spirite entred into the innermost closet of his Diuine prouidence and there sawe what order was taken for thinges to come in the worlde so likewise she was able by the direction of the same light to enter into the most secret corners of mens hartes and there to take a vewe of their hidden thoughtes and designementes Wherof Doctour Raimundus gaue a faithfull testimonie in him selfe saying and constantly affirming that on a tyme while he was in companie with the holie maid his mynd was occupied about certaine thoughtes that were vnpleasant to God Which thing she perceiuing gaue him warning that he should withdrawe his mynd from such thoughtes and occupie him selfe about some other matters He as a man began to excuse him selfe with a lie and said that he had no such thing in his mynd O good Father said she after a verie humble maner wherefore saie you so Will you denie me that which I see more cleerely then you see it your selfe And with that she tooke occasion both to tell him precisely what he thought at that tyme and withal to geue him a good lesson how he should auoid the like thoughtes an other tyme. Doctour Raimundus confessed afterwardes to the glorie of God though in deed it founded in some degree to his owne reproch in the wordle that the like happened betweene them at diuerse and sundrie tymes There was also in the citie of Siena a worshipful knight called Sir Nicolas Sauacines a man of great valour in his daies and welbeloued of all men When this Sir Nicolas had spent a great part of his life abrode in the warres of foraine contreis at the length in his age he returned home to his owne contrey and house where he liued rechlesly in pastimes and pleasures deceiuing him selfe as the maner of such men is with this false ground that he should haue tyme inough to doe penance before his end His wife and frindes being vertuous folkes them selues and therefore sorie to see him in such case perswaded with him earnestly that he would goe to Confession and doe penance for his foremer life But whatsoeuer they said to him in that behalfe he gaue but a deaffe eare to their wordes Then it came into their mynd vndoubtedly by the secret instincte of almightie God who desireth not the death of a synner but rather that he be turned and liue that they should moue him to goe to the holie maide whose name was at that tyme verie famouse ouer all the citie for manie vertues and namely for a singular grace that she had in dealing with those men that were hard harted and obstinately set to continue in their synful state of life And so with this mynd they went to him and exhorted him verie effectually that he would now in his later daies looke more careully to his soules health and in regard of that hey gaue him counsel that he should resort at his conuenient leisure to the holie maid and talke with her and they doubted not but that her good talke and praiers should doe him much good When the knight heard them name the holie maid tush said he thinke you that I haue nothing els to doe but to goe talke with her What good is she able to doe me Then his wife who was a good vertuous woman and well acqueinted with the holie maid went to her and with great lamentation opened to her what had ben done by her selfe and by her frindes for the cōuersion of her husband whose heart notwithstanding was so hardened that they could doe him no good And therefore she besought the holie maid to praie to God for her husband that his hart might be mollified made apte to receiue the grace of God The holie maid promised the ladie that she would haue her husband in remēbrance and so she had Soone after the holie maid appeered to the knight in his sleepe gaue him warning that if he mynded to escape euerlasting dānation he should geue eare to his wiues counsel touching his soules health So soone as he was awaked he told his wife what had happened in his sleepe and he told her furthermore that he would goe talke with the holie maid to knowe whether it were she that had so appeered to him or no. His wife was verie glad of that and went to the holie maid before to thanke her for her charitie and to entreat her that she would appoint a tyme and place where her husband might come and speake with her Which she did with a good will and he came was by her good exhortations so thoroughly turned in hart that he promised to goe out of hand to Doctour Thomas her ghostlie Father and to him to confesse his synnes And so he did Now when he had done he came to her againe in the Church where she was and told her that he had confessed his synnes and taken penance for the same Sir said she you haue done verie well and shall by the grace of God doe better hereafter But I praie you tell me Haue you confessed all your synnes Yea said he all that came to my mynd Anon after she asked him againe whether he had made a full and perfecte confession of all his synnes And euer he made answere that he had done it At the length she willed him to examine his conscience with good diligence and to thinke aduisedly whether he had not lefte out some synne that was committed manie yeares before And still he said that to his remembrance he had lefte no one synne vnconfessed With that she tooke him a side and put him in mynd of a verie grieuous synne which he had committed manie yeares before in Apulia which synne was also so secretly done that she could neuer haue come to the knowledge of it vnlesse it had ben reueled vnto her by God When the knight heard that he was meruelously astonied and acknowledging him selfe in deed gyltie he went without anie longer delaie to her ghostlie father and made his confession of that synne particularly And from that daie forewarde he bare such a reuerence and loue to the holie maid that he could neuer speake inough of her vertue and holines In so much that he would saie of her as the woman of Samaria said of our Sauiour Christ Come and see a holie virgin that hath told me all that I haue done Is not she thinke you a great prophetisse This knight after that he was thus turned by the holie maid liued euermore