When On A Journey He Saw A Church Or A Cross, Although In
The Midst Of Conversation Either With His Inferiors Or Superiors,
From An Excess Of Devotion, He Immediately Began To Pray, And When
He Had Finished His Prayers, Resumed His Conversation.
On meeting
boys in the way, he invited them by a previous salutation to salute
him, that the blessings of these innocents, thus extorted, might be
returned to him.
His wife, Matilda de Saint Valery, observed all
these things: a prudent and chaste woman; a woman placed with
propriety at the head of her house, equally attentive to the
economical disposal of her property within doors, as to the
augmentation of it without; both of whom, I hope, by their devotion
obtained temporal happiness and grace, as well as the glory of
eternity.
It happened also that the hand of a boy, who was endeavouring to
take some young pigeons from a nest, in the church of Saint David of
Llanvaes, {35} adhered to the stone on which he leaned, through the
miraculous vengeance, perhaps, of that saint, in favour of the birds
who had taken refuge in his church; and when the boy, attended by
his friends and parents, had for three successive days and nights
offered up his prayers and supplications before the holy altar of
the church, his hand was, on the third day, liberated by the same
divine power which had so miraculously fastened it. We saw this
same boy at Newbury, in England, now advanced in years, presenting
himself before David the Second, {36} bishop of Saint David's, and
certifying to him the truth of this relation, because it had
happened in his diocese. The stone is preserved in the church to
this day among the relics, and the marks of the five fingers appear
impressed on the flint as though it were in wax.
A small miracle happened at St. Edmundsbury to a poor woman, who
often visited the shrine of the saint, under the mask of devotion;
not with the design of giving, but of taking something away, namely,
the silver and gold offerings, which, by a curious kind of theft,
she licked up by kissing, and carried away in her mouth. But in one
of these attempts her tongue and lips adhered to the altar, when by
divine interposition she was detected, and openly disgorged the
secret theft. Many persons, both Jews and Christians, expressing
their astonishment, flocked to the place, where for the greater part
of the day she remained motionless, that no possible doubt might be
entertained of the miracle.
In the north of England beyond the Humber, in the church of
Hovedene, {37} the concubine of the rector incautiously sat down on
the tomb of St. Osana, sister of king Osred, {38} which projected
like a wooden seat; on wishing to retire, she could not be removed,
until the people came to her assistance; her clothes were rent, her
body was laid bare, and severely afflicted with many strokes of
discipline, even till the blood flowed; nor did she regain her
liberty, until by many tears and sincere repentance she had showed
evident signs of compunction.
What miraculous power hath not in our days been displayed by the
psalter of Quindreda, sister of St. Kenelm, {39} by whose
instigation he was killed? On the vigil of the saint, when,
according to custom, great multitudes of women resorted to the feast
at Winchelcumbe, {40} the under butler of that convent committed
fornication with one of them within the precincts of the monastery.
This same man on the following day had the audacity to carry the
psalter in the procession of the relics of the saints; and on his
return to the choir, after the solemnity, the psalter stuck to his
hands. Astonished and greatly confounded, and at length calling to
his mind his crime on the preceding day, he made confession, and
underwent penance; and being assisted by the prayers of the
brotherhood, and having shown signs of sincere contrition, he was at
length liberated from the miraculous bond. That book was held in
great veneration; because, when the body of St. Kenelm was carried
forth, and the multitude cried out, "He is the martyr of God! truly
he is the martyr of God!" Quindreda, conscious and guilty of the
murder of her brother, answered, "He is as truly the martyr of God
as it is true that my eyes be on that psalter;" for, as she was
reading the psalter, both her eyes were miraculously torn from her
head, and fell on the book, where the marks of the blood yet remain.
Moreover I must not be silent concerning the collar (torques) which
they call St. Canauc's; {41} for it is most like to gold in weight,
nature, and colour; it is in four pieces wrought round, joined
together artificially, and clefted as it were in the middle, with a
dog's head, the teeth standing outward; it is esteemed by the
inhabitants so powerful a relic, that no man dares swear falsely
when it is laid before him: it bears the marks of some severe
blows, as if made with an iron hammer; for a certain man, as it is
said, endeavouring to break the collar for the sake of the gold,
experienced the divine vengeance, was deprived of his eyesight, and
lingered the remainder of his days in darkness.
A similar circumstance concerning the horn of St. Patrick (not
golden indeed, but of brass [probably bronze], which lately was
brought into these parts from Ireland) excites our admiration. The
miraculous power of this relic first appeared with a terrible
example in that country, through the foolish and absurd blowing of
Bernard, a priest, as is set forth in our Topography of Ireland.
Both the laity and clergy in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales held in
such great veneration portable bells, and staves crooked at the top,
and covered with gold, silver, or brass, and similar relics of the
saints, that they were much more afraid of swearing falsely by them
than by the gospels; because, from some hidden and miraculous power
with which they are gifted, and the vengeance of the saint to whom
they are particularly pleasing, their despisers and transgressors
are severely punished.
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