SACRED LEGENDS.
LIVES AND LEGENDS OF SAINTS AND MARTYRS.
In the ninth century the monks busied themselves with collecting, compiling, and reviving biographies and histories of saints and martyrs. Many of the records of monasteries had been pillaged and destroyed by the ravages of the Northmen, and it was necessary and expedient to keep alive the memories of notable saints. Some prominent monks of St. Germains, of Paris, of Notker and St. Gall, devoted themselves to this task, and many narratives, genealogies, and legends were rewritten, embellished, and invented, so as to add to the glory of the Church. In the following century, at a Roman Council in 993, much discussion arose as to the holiness of Ulric, who had died twenty years previously, and of whom many miracles were related, and it was agreed that such as he deserved the veneration of the world, and were true mediators between Christ and mankind. This was said to be the first instance of canonisation, a mode of certifying that a saint was to be held in reverence throughout all Christendom. This mode of canonising was at first used by metropolitans, but in 1153 Pope Alexander III. declared that henceforth the Pope alone was to exercise this imperial power.
THE CHRISTIAN LEGENDS.
Milman says: “That some of the Christian legends were deliberate forgeries can scarcely be questioned. The principle of pious fraud appeared to justify this mode of working on the popular mind; it was admitted and avowed. To deceive into Christianity was so valuable a service as to hallow deceit itself. But the largest portion was probably the natural birth of that imaginative excitement, which quickens its day-dreams and nightly visions into reality. The Christian lived in a supernatural world: thenotion of the Divine power, the perpetual interference of the deity, the agency of the countless invisible beings which hovered over mankind was so strongly impressed upon the belief, that every extraordinary and almost every ordinary incident became a miracle, every inward emotion a suggestion either of a good or an evil spirit. A mythic period was thus gradually formed, in which reality melted into fable and invention unconsciously trespassed on the province of history. This invention had very early let itself loose in the spurious gospels or accounts of the lives of the Saviour and His Apostles, which were chiefly composed among or rather against the sects which were less scrupulous in their veneration for the sacred books. The lives of St. Antony by Athanasius, and of Hilarion by Jerome, are the prototypes of the countless biographies of saints, and with a strong outline of truth became impersonations of the feeling, the opinions, the belief of the time.”
HOW LEGENDS AND MIRACLES GROW.
Torquemada relates that a certain woman being desirous of rising a few hours before dawn, and not finding any fire under the ashes, sent her servant out with a candle to get a light. The servant going from house to house, nowhere found any fire. At length she perceived a lamp burning in a church. She called to the sacristan who was sleeping within, and he awoke and lighted her candle. Meanwhile the mistress, tired of waiting, had taken another candle, and had found a fire in a neighbour’s house, and came out with her light just as the servant was returning with another, and both were in white. At that moment a neighbour, while rising and looking out half asleep, seeing the two figures, thought they were phantoms. And next there went a rumour that there had been a procession of spirits that night round the church. On another occasion a solemn burial of a noble knight in a certain monastery in Spain was appointed to take place next day. A poor female idiot had strayed into the church, and remaining after the doors were closed, took shelter from the cold under the great velvet pall which covered the coffin. The monks coming into the choir to sing matins, the idiot awoke and made a noise which startled the religious men, who, however, continued to sing their matins, and then retired. The rumour soon ran of what had been heard and seen, each relater adding something, till at length the poor idiot grew into a supernatural being sent from the skies to add honour to the noble warrior.
THE THUNDERING LEGION.
When the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who died 180, warred against the Vandals, Salmatians, and Germans, his army was shut up in hot and dry places, where they had been without water for five days, and were much discouraged. The Emperor in a letter which he wrote said he had 975,000 men leagued against him, and he prayed to his national deities, but got no assistance. He had, however, some Christians in his army, who fell on their faces and prayed to a God unknown to him, when suddenly there descended from the sky on him and his troops a most cool and refreshing rain, but on the enemy hail mixed with lightning, insomuch that he at once perceived that a most potent God had interposed irresistibly in his favour. The enemy were put to flight. Wherefore he granted full toleration to these people called Christians, lest peradventure by their prayers they should procure some like interposition against him. And it was ordered that in future it should not be deemed a crime to be a Christian.
ST. MAURICE AND THE THEBAN LEGION.
In the time of Diocletian, who died 313, part of the Roman army consisted of a Theban legion, which was six thousand six hundred and sixty-six men strong, all Christians, and noted for discipline and piety. After marching towards Gaul on service against the Christians, they encamped on the Lake of Geneva; and when ordered to join in the sacrifices to the gods, the whole legion, with their commander Maurice, refused to obey or to fight against their fellow-Christians. The Emperor, being enraged, ordered them to be decimated, and they thought this the highest honour, and vied with each other in being selected as the first victims. Still refusing, they were ordered a second time to be decimated, and then a third time, with like results. Maurice at the third decimation spoke thus: “Noble Cæsar, we are thy soldiers, but we are also the soldiers of Jesus Christ. From thee we receive our pay; from Him we receive eternal life. To thee we owe service, to Him obedience. We are ready to follow thee against the barbarians, but we are also ready to suffer death rather than renounce our faith or fight against our brethren.”
THE DIVINING-ROD.
There was long current a tradition that as Moses and Aaronhad a rod, so there still existed persons who could divine the inscrutable by means of a rod of a particular tree and shape, some said the hazel. It was efficacious to discover hidden treasures, veins of precious metal, springs of water, thefts, and murders. In the fifteenth century, Basil Valentine, a monk, described the general use of the divining-rod. In 1659 a Jesuit writer said that this rod was used in every town of Germany to discover mines and springs. In 1692 one Jacques Aylmar astonished Europe by his marvellous discoveries in tracking thieves and murderers, and his services were sought by corporations and high officers of state. The circumstances were related by three eye-witnesses who vouched for the truth. At last a plot was laid for Aylmar, and it was believed he was proved to be an impostor. Some individuals have professed to use like powers, and have made singular discoveries, particularly one Parangue at Marseilles in 1760, and one Jenny Leslie, a Scotch girl, about the same date.
ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON.
Saint George of Cappadocia was an early Christian of high position. In the reign of Diocletian, when the edict of that Emperor against the Christians was published, stimulated by a Divine zeal he tore the paper to pieces, treating it as infamous. For this act he was put to a death of horrible torture on April 23rd, 303. There is much mystery about the identity and the mode of death of the saint. The account in later ages which was given was, that he was first thrust with spears, but that they snapped like straw when they touched him. He was next bound to a wheel set with knives and swords, but an angel kept him harmless. He was then buried in a pit of quicklime, but that could not kill him. And his limbs were next broken, he was made to run in red-hot iron shoes, then scourged and made to drink poison—all of which cruelties were harmless; and at the end of seven days he restored an ox to life in testimony of his miraculous help. But he was at last murdered. His story was made into a legend, in which he was represented as slaying a dragon which infested a lake and had devoured sheep and alarmed the natives, who were told that unless the king’s daughter was thrown to the beast it could not be got rid of. This step was about to be taken by the despairing king, when George, passing that way, heard of the difficulty and offered at once to save the young princess and kill the monster, which he did by making the sign of the cross and dexterously using his lance.Temples and churches and monasteries were dedicated to the victorious knight in many countries. The Crusaders, including our Richard I., all invoked his protection. In 1348 Edward III. founded St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, and used the saint’s name when besieging Calais and routing the French. The effect of St. George’s name was so marked that he was adopted as the patron saint of England in lieu of Edward the Confessor. In 1349 the Order of St. George was instituted. In 1545 the saint’s day was made a red-letter day, with a proper collect, epistle, and gospel, in the services of the Church. Many of the great painters have shown their skill in representing the legend.
ST. CHRISTINA AND THE MILLSTONE.
St. Christina, who died 295, was the daughter of a noble who lived near Lake Bolseno, and was early a convert to the Christian faith. One day, looking on a crowd of poor people whose wants she could not supply, she broke her father’s silver and gold idols and divided them among the beggars. He was enraged and beat her and threw her into a dungeon, but angels came and healed her wounds. He next was determined to drown her, and fastened her to a millstone and threw both into the lake; but angels held up the stone and clothed her with white garments and led her safely to land. He then thought there must be witchcraft, and threw her into a fiery furnace; but she remained there five days unharmed, singing praises to God. Her head was then shaved, and she was dragged to do obeisance at the temple of Apollo; but she had no sooner looked at the idol than it fell down before her. At seeing these things her father became so terrified that he died. Next the governor ordered her tongue to be cut out, but she only sang more loudly and sweetly. Serpents and reptiles became harmless as doves before her; but at last she was shot dead with arrows, and angels waited and carried her pure spirit to heaven. This saint with the millstone is often painted to decorate the churches in Italy.
ST. CHRISTOPHER THE MARTYR SEEKING A KING OF KINGS.
Christopher the martyr was a gigantic negro, who in early life had a fancy that he would never be happy till he took service under the most powerful prince in the whole world. He took means first to seek out King Maximus, who, on seeing the stature and strength of his petitioner, at once employed him. One day the King’s minstrel recited a lay in which the devil was oftenmentioned, and each time the King, who was a Christian, made the sign of the cross on his forehead. This astonished Christopher, who after many questions elicited the reason, which was this—that it was done for fear of the devil. Christopher from this at once concluded that there must be a still more powerful prince than Maximus, and he could not rest till he sought out that prince, the devil. He passed through deserts in search; and one day seeing a great crowd of warriors, with one terribly fierce at their head, he made bold to say, when questioned where he was going, that he was seeking the devil. The warrior told him that the devil was before him; so Christopher at once was engaged to serve him. One day as they were journeying they came to a cross at the wayside, and the devil made a circuit so as not to pass the spot, and afterwards rejoined his troop farther on. This made Christopher ask the reason, and it was told him that there had been a man named Christ hung upon that cross whom the devil feared greatly. Christopher again came to the conclusion that Christ must after all be the greatest prince, and he set off to seek for Christ. He met a hermit, who told him to fast and pray; but Christopher said that these things did not suit him, and he wanted some easier service. So the hermit told him that as he was tall and strong he should dwell near a great river not far off and carry over the passengers. He did so; and one night a little boy called on him for help, and Christopher took him on his shoulders, when the river was in flood, but the child proved heavy as lead, and on reaching the shore Christopher said he felt as if the whole world had been on his back—it was a wonder he had got over safe. The boy answered that Christopher had no cause to marvel, for he had just been carrying, not the world, but Him who created the world, for that He was Christ the Lord. In token of this Christ told Christopher to plant his staff in the earth, and it would immediately bud and bear fruit; and then Christ vanished. The staff was planted, and in the morning it bore dates like a palm tree; and thus Christopher knew it was Christ whom he had carried. After these things Christopher went to the city of Ammon, where he saw Christians tortured, and he sought to comfort them, saying he would avenge their injury were he not a Christian. His habit of praying was reported, and he was taken before King Dagnus, who on seeing such a giant as Christopher fell to the ground for fear. But steps were taken to throw Christopher into prison, and the officers beat and scourged him, put him on a bed of red-hot iron, burnt pitch under him, and at last with three hundred archers shot him to death. All this time Christopherprayed, and a light shone from his countenance, and his relics began to work miracles.
THE HALLELUJAH VICTORY IN WALES.
In 430 St. German and Lupus were in Britain preaching to the Britons, and the Saxons joined the Picts in attacking the former in Flintshire near Mold. A deputation went from the Britons to German and Lupus, then preaching, to ask them for help. The saints complied, and were made generals of the British forces. Every day they preached to the soldiers, and on Easter-day many were in course of being baptised, when the approach of the enemy was announced. German saw that the enemy would come through a valley surrounded with high hills. He posted his army on these hills. As soon as the enemy entered the valley, a loud shout of Hallelujah resounded in the mountains, and passed from hill to hill, gathering sound as it re-echoed. Consternation filled the enemy; and as if the rocks were ready to fall and crush them, seized with a general panic, they took to flight, leaving their arms, baggage, and even clothes behind them. A large number perished in the river Alen. The Britons, who had remained motionless, now came forth to collect the spoils of a victory which all acknowledged to be the gift of Heaven. Thus did Faith obtain a triumph without slaughter with two bishops as leaders. The place of this battle is known to this day as the Field of German, and is about a mile from Mold. Gregory the Great, three hundred years later, referred to it as a wonderful example of the lust of war being tamed by the simple word of God’s priests.
THE PROPHECIES OF MERLIN.
Merlin lived about 447, a contemporary of St. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre. He crossed over to England twice, and fought against the Anglo-Saxons, then Pagans, and defeated them in the Hallelujah victory. Merlin showed Vortigern, King of Britain, in mystic language the future history of his country, describing events as arising out of a contest between red worms and white worms, lions and dragons fighting against each other, and other allegories no longer worth repeating. But Orderic, who lived six hundred years later, narrates that Merlin’s prophecies had come true. Indeed, all the intervening generations for some reason or other devoutly believed that Merlin was inspired, and commentaries were written expressly to demonstrate the truth revealed by that prophet.
THE DEVIL SHOWING ST. AUGUSTINE A BOOK.
In a painting at the back of the stalls of Carlisle Cathedral, which was the only cathedral in England, the episcopal chapel of which belonged to Augustinians, there is a representation of scenes from the life of St. Augustine of Canterbury, and one of the devil with a book. The legend is, that the devil one day appeared to St. Augustine carrying a book. The saint asked what the book contained, and was answered, “The sins of men.” He then adjured the devil to show him any passage in which his own sins were recorded, and found that the only entry against him was, that on one occasion he had neglected to repeat the office of complin. Thereupon, commanding the devil to await his return, Augustine entered a neighbouring church and repeated that office. The entry in the book at once disappeared, and the devil greeted St. Augustine as he came out of the church thus: “You have shamefully deceived me. I regret I ever showed you my book, for with your prayers you have wiped out that sin of yours.” And so the devil disappeared in high dudgeon.
THE WANDERING JEW.
The legend of the Wandering Jew is said to be based on Matt. xvi. 28 and Mark ix. 1. The earliest account seems not older than Matthew Paris, in 1228, who says it was related to the monks at St. Albans by a visitor. It was this: that when Jesus was dragged to the Crucifixion and reached the door of Cartaphilus, a porter in Pilate’s service, he impiously struck Jesus, telling Him in mockery to go quicker, whereon Jesus gravely replied, “I am going, and you will wait till I return.” This meant that the man would not die till the Second Coming. He was afterwards baptised and called Joseph. He is a grave and circumspect and taciturn man, who, when asked, but not unless asked, will give details as to the Crucifixion not found in the Scriptures. He never smiles. He says he sinned through ignorance. He once assisted a weaver in Bohemia to find some hidden treasure. He has been met with in all countries. He eats and drinks little. When offered money, he only accepts a small sum of fourpence. He once appeared at Stamford in 1658; his coat was purple, and buttoned down to the waist. About 1700 an impostor attracted attention in England as being the Wandering Jew. Other impostors appeared in England in 1818, 1824, and 1830. Some say the Wild Huntsman of the Harz Mountains is the same person, and cursed with perpetual life and with the desire to hunt the red-deer for evermore.
ST. SABAS AND THE LION.
St. Sabas, a renowned patriarch of the monks of Palestine, who died 532, when a child went into a monastery and showed a genius for his work. One day, while at work in the garden, he saw a tree loaded with fair and beautiful apples, and gathered one with an intention to eat it. But reflecting that this was a temptation of the devil, he threw the apple on the ground and trod upon it. Moreover, to punish himself more perfectly, he made a vow never to eat any apples as long as he lived. At eighteen he went to visit the holy places at Jerusalem, and became member of a monastery about twelve miles from Jerusalem, and as a luxury often asked leave to go and remain in a cave, where he prayed and lived by basket-making. In one of these caves he met a holy hermit, who had lived thirty-eight years without seeing any one, feeding on wild herbs. Once Sabas went into a great cave to pray, and a huge lion happened to make it his den. At midnight the beast came in, and, finding the guest, dared not to touch him, but gently plucked his garments, as if to draw him out. The saint was not terrified, but leisurely went on to read aloud the midnight psalms. The lion went out; and when the holy man had finished matins, came in again and pulled his clothes gently as before. The saint spoke to the beast and said the place was big enough to hold them both. The lion at those words departed and returned thither no more. Certain thieves found Sabas in this cave, but he converted them to a penitential life. Others joined him and turned it into a monastery; but he preferred to retire elsewhere and enjoy the sweetness of perfect solitude. He was afterwards sent to Constantinople to help with his advice in restoring peace to the Church. He died at ninety-one, an example of admirable sanctity.
THEOPHILUS AND HIS COMPACT WITH THE DEVIL.
About 538 a priest named Theophilus lived in Cilicia, and on the decease of the bishop he was chosen by acclamation to fill the vacancy. But his deep humility urged him to refuse the office. Slanders circulated against him, and the bishop investigated them, found him guilty, and deprived him. Being unable to clear his reputation, he consulted a necromancer, who took him at midnight to a place where four cross-roads met, and conjured up Satan, who promised to reinstate Theophilus and clear his character. But it was first necessary that Theophilus should sign away his soul with a pen dipped in his own blood, and to abjure Christ andthe Holy Mother. Next day the bishop sent for Theophilus and admitted the sentence was wrong, and asked pardon for being so misled, and restored Theophilus. The populace also welcomed his return. But Theophilus found no rest for his conscience. He prayed long and often without a ray of comfort. At last he fasted forty days. The Virgin at the end of that time appeared and assured him of forgiveness; and one morning, on awaking, he found the accursed deed which sold his soul lying on his breast. He rose and went to church full of joy and exultation, made a public confession, and showed to the people the compact signed with blood. He craved absolution from the bishop and had the deed burned. He then took the Sacrament, and soon after died of a fever. He has ever since been treated as a saint.
THE HOLY GRAIL.
The story of the Sangreal was one of the traditions of King Arthur’s knights. When Christ was transfixed with the spear and the blood flowed out, Joseph of Arimathæa collected it in the vessel from which the Saviour had eaten the Last Supper. Joseph was thrown into prison and left to die of hunger, but he lived forty years, being nourished and invigorated by the sacred vessel. Titus released Joseph, who started with the vessel for Britain, and before his death he confided it to a nephew. Others say the Grail was preserved in heaven till a race of heroes grew up fit to protect it. A temple was founded by some king to hold the Grail, the model being the Temple at Jerusalem; and the vessel gave oracles, and the sight of it inspired perpetual youth and made its guardians incapable of wounds or hurt. The knights who watched the Grail were pure, and whenever a bell was rung one was bound to go forth and fight for the right. Endless variations of the legend appear in different countries.
THE SEVEN SLEEPERS OF EPHESUS.
The legend of the seven sleepers was told in the fifth and sixth centuries. The Emperor Decius, having gone to Ephesus, commanded all the Christians to worship idols or die. Seven young men refused, and being accused and reprieved, they sold all their goods and determined to conceal themselves in a cave, and fell asleep. Lest they should be hiding in the cave, the mouth of it was blocked up with stones. After the lapse of three hundred and fifty years, these stones being removed for a new building, the sleepers awoke; but on returning to Ephesus and searchingfor their parents, and finding no trace of them, and yet seeing crosses erected everywhere, they were confounded. One of them having offered a coin for bread, was taken up as a sorcerer who had discovered hidden treasure and concealed it. But when the governor and the bishop examined into the story, the bishop turned to the governor and said, “The hand of God is here.” They visited the cave, and saw the other six sleepers, all fresh and radiant. They said they were kept alive to prove the truth of the Resurrection, and then died. William of Malmesbury says these sleepers had lain all the time on their right side.
LITTLE BLIND HERVE, THE CHILD MINSTREL.
When the British emigrants in the sixth century went to convert the inhabitants of Armorica, in Brittany, they took also a bard named Hyvernion, who married a female bard; and these two had a little blind child named Herve, who, when an orphan at the age of seven, went about the country singing hymns with the voice of an angel. He became a universal favourite, and people wished him to be made a priest. But he would not leave a little monastery of his own which he had founded in a forest, and where he had a school and a church and taught children’s songs. This church was managed by a child cousin of his own, a little girl named Christina, who used to be compared to a little white dove among the crows. Three days before his death Herve fell into a trance, in which he saw visions of choirs of angels, and of his father and mother among the saints of heaven. The third day of his illness he told Christina to make his bed with a stone for a pillow and ashes for a couch, as he was anxious that the black angel should find him in that state. The little girl, on comprehending that his end was near, begged him to ask God to let her accompany him, and the prayer was granted, for when he died she threw herself at his feet and died too immediately. Ever since then the little blind monk is often heard singing his little hymns, and he is the patron of all the mendicant singers of Brittany. The same legend says that his mother used to be so proud of her minstrel boy as to think that, if there were a thousand singing together, she could still distinguish little Herve’s voice among them.
THE SUPPER OF ST. GREGORY.
St. Gregory was in his early days a monk in St. Andrew’s at Rome, though afterwards he became Pope and sent St. Augustineto preach to the Saxons at Canterbury. When at St. Andrew’s a beggar once came to the gate and was relieved, and he came again and again till all the monk’s means were exhausted. At last Gregory ordered the silver porringer which his mother Sylvia had given to him to be handed to the mendicant. When Gregory became Pope, he used to entertain every evening to supper twelve poor men, and one night he was surprised to notice that there were thirteen seated at the table. He called to the steward and said he had given orders that there should be twelve only. The steward looked and counted them over and said, “Holy father, there are surely twelve only!” Gregory said nothing more, but at the end of the meal he called to the thirteenth and unbidden guest, “Who art thou?” The answer was, “I am the poor man whom thou didst formerly relieve, and my name is the Wonderful, and through me thou shalt obtain whatever thou shalt ask of God.” Then Gregory knew that he had entertained an angel, or, as some say, our Lord Himself. This legend is often represented in pictures, Christ sitting as a pilgrim with the other guests. Another legend represents St. Gregory officiating at the Mass where some one was near who doubted the real presence; and the Saviour in person descended upon the altar surrounded by the instruments of His passion in answer to a prayer addressed by the saint.
ST. GREGORY RELEASING THE SOUL OF TRAJAN.
The doctrine of purgatory was said to arise from the feelings expressed by St. Gregory at the following incident in the life of Trajan. That Emperor was once hastening at the head of his legions, when a poor widow flung herself in his way, crying aloud for justice and vengeance over the innocent blood of her son, killed by the son of the Emperor. Trajan promised to do her justice when he returned from his expedition. The widow then exclaimed, “But, sire, if you are killed in battle, who then is to do me justice?” Trajan answered, “My successor.” She then retorted, “But what will it signify to you, Emperor, if it is left to some other person to do me justice? Is it not better that you should do this honourable action and receive the reward yourself?” Trajan, moved by her piety and her reasoning, then alighted, and having examined into the matter, he gave up to her his own son in place of her son, and also bestowed on her likewise a liberal pension. Now it came to pass that one day, as Gregory was meditating in his daily walk, this action of the Emperor Trajan came into his recollection, and he wept bitterly to think that a man so justshould be condemned as a heathen to eternal punishment. And entering a church, he prayed most fervently that the soul of the good Emperor might be released from torment. And a voice said to him: “I have granted thy prayer, and I have spared the soul of Trajan for thy sake; but because thou hast supplicated for one whom the justice of God had already condemned thou shalt choose one of two things: either thou shalt endure for two days the fires of purgatory, or thou shalt be sick and infirm for the remainder of thy life.” Gregory chose the latter, and this accounted for the many bodily infirmities of the saint during the rest of his life.
LEGEND OF ST. BEGA.
In Cumberland, on a promontory of the Irish Sea, stood the monastery of St. Bees, named after St. Bega, who was one of the nuns under the great abbess St. Hilda of Whitby. St. Bega was the daughter of an Irish king, the most beautiful woman of her time, and was sought in marriage by a prince of Norway. But she had vowed to live a nun, and had received from an angel a bracelet marked with the sign of the cross, as the seal of her high calling. On the night before her wedding day, while her father’s retainers were carousing, she escaped alone with nothing but the bracelet, and in a skiff landed on the western shore of Northumbria, and took refuge in a cell in a wood, and then joined St. Hilda till she could build a monastery of her own. During the building she prepared with her own hands the food of the masons and waited on them. Her bracelet was long preserved as a relic. She was celebrated for her austerity, her fervour, and her kindness to the poor, and remained the patron saint for six hundred years after her death of the north-west coast of England.
ST. FRUCTUOSUS AND THE DOE.
Fructuosus, who died about 665, displayed when a mere child a genius for monkery. When a boy he had already fixed on a site for a monastery; and when he had carried out his enterprise and gathered a large body of followers, and was praying in a secluded spot in a forest, a labourer took him for a fugitive slave, and put a rope round his neck and brought him to a place where he was recognised. Another time he was wandering covered with a goat skin, and a huntsman thinking him a wild beast shot an arrow at him, and only then discovered that it was a man perched on the top of a rock with his hands extended in prayer. On another day a hind pursued by the hunters threw itself into the folds ofthe monk’s tunic, and he was so pleased at this mark of confidence that he took the wild creature home and treated it kindly. They soon became mutually attached. The simple doe followed him everywhere, slept at the foot of his bed and bleated incessantly if he was out of her sight. He tried to send her back to the woods, but she soon returned to his cell and haunted it as before. At last a brutal fellow, who was supposed to have no goodwill to the monks, one day killed her while Fructuosus was on a journey. On his return his eyes searched in vain for a welcome from his faithful friend, and when informed of her death he fell prostrate on the floor of the church, quivering with agony. The bystanders thought he was asking of God some punishment for this brutality. Soon after the murderer fell sick, and begged urgently this monk to go to his aid. The monk avenged himself nobly; he went and healed his greatest enemy, and at the same time made him repent of his sins.
POPE JOAN (A.D.854).
The story that there was once a female Pope, who succeeded Leo in 854, and reigned two years and five months, was first told three hundred years later by a chronicler named Stephen, a French Dominican, who died in 1261. She concealed her sex, but on her way to the Lateran she was delivered of a child in the street, and died shortly afterwards. Others say the child was born as she was celebrating High Mass. The story was embellished as time advanced. But it has been in modern times treated as a fable devised and kept up by the Protestant reformers in order to discredit the Papacy. Some added that Joan was the daughter of an English missionary, and fell in love with a monk; that she dressed herself in male attire in order to pursue her studies, became celebrated for her learning, and at last arrived at the high dignity of Pope. Others say she was an Athenian woman celebrated for her learning, who had come to Rome as an adventuress. Others say she was a native of Mayence, who fell in love and went in man’s attire to Rome, and after many adventures succeeded to the highest dignity.
BISHOP HATTO DEVOURED BY RATS.
Bishop Hatto had a castle on a little rock in the Rhine. In 970 a famine existed in Germany, and the famishing people asked the bishop for help, and he invited them to go into a large barn. He set fire to the barn, and they were all consumed.Soon afterwards an army of rats collected and moved towards the palace, and on seeing them the bishop fled to his tower in the Rhine, thinking they could not follow him. But they swarmed through the river and climbed up into the holes and windows and ate up the bishop. This story was told for the first time at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and a similar legend is found in the records of Poland and Bavaria.
ST. CONRAD SWALLOWING A SPIDER.
It is related of St. Conrad, a devout bishop who died in 976, that he was celebrating the Mass on Easter Day, when a great spider dropped into the chalice. The insect might have been taken out and then decently burnt, but out of devotion and respect for the holy mysteries the bishop swallowed the spider, which he vomited up some hours after without receiving any harm.
THE PIPER OF HAMELN AND THE RATS.
The town of Hameln was infested with rats, which swarmed everywhere and drove the people mad. One day a stranger came saying he was a ratcatcher, and offered to rid the place of the vermin for a sum of money. This was agreed to, and the piper began to pipe, and the rats with a mighty rumbling noise came out of their holes and followed him. The townspeople, on seeing the rats leaving them, repented of the bargain, and refused to pay the money, on the ground of the piper being a sorcerer. The piper then waxed wroth and threatened revenge, and soon after he came again into the town and blew his pipe, whereon all the children rushed out and followed him towards a side of the mountain, when they all vanished through an opening, and none of them were ever seen again. There were one hundred and thirty children. The street through which the poor children were decoyed is called the Bungen Strasse, and to this day no music is ever tolerated in it.
LADY GODIVA RELIEVING COVENTRY.
It is related by Matthew of Westminster that Count Leofric, who died in 1057, and his noble and pious wife Godiva, had founded a monastery in Coventry, had established monks in it, and endowed it so abundantly with estates and treasures of various kinds that there was not found such a quantity of gold, silver, and precious stones in any monastery in all England as there was at that time in that monastery. The countess had on an occasionwished in a most pious spirit to deliver the city of Coventry from a burdensome and shameful slavery, and often entreated the count her husband with earnest prayers to deliver the town from that slavery. And when the count reproached her for persevering in asking to no purpose for a thing which he disliked, he at last charged her never for the future to mention this subject to him. She, however, prompted by female persistence, continued her entreaties, till her husband was provoked, and then taunted her thus: “Mount then your horse naked and ride through the market of the town from end to end, and when you return you shall succeed in your request.” The countess replied, “I am willing even to do that if you will give me your permission.” And he gave it. Then the countess, beloved of God, on a set day mounted her horse naked, letting her tresses of hair fall, which covered her whole body except her beautiful legs; and when she had finished her journey without being seen by any one, she returned to her husband with joy. He looked on this as a miracle, released the city from slavery, and confirmed the charter with his own seal.
THE SACRED FIRE IN THE GREEK CHURCH.
A ceremony was long prevalent among the Greek Christians at Jerusalem which resembled the carnival in Rome. On Easter Eve it was pretended that fire descended from heaven into the sacred sepulchre. In order to keep up this illusion, all the lamps were extinguished. The crowd then collected round the sepulchre, some crying “Eleison” and jumping on each other’s backs, and throwing dirt about like people at a fair. Some held up their wax tapers, as if imploring the Almighty to send the fire. Then people marched round the sepulchre, some personating the archbishops and bishops. At last one entered the sepulchre and pretended his taper had caught fire. The crowd then pressed round to light their tapers at that which first took fire. Great rioting and tomfoolery then succeeded. Some ascribe the origin of this superstition to a real miracle of the same kind which once happened, and it is added that God Almighty being provoked at the irregularities of the Christian Crusaders refused to work the miracle, but at last vouchsafed to do so after fervent supplications. It was said the fire had never descended since the beginning of the twelfth century. Part of the above ceremony consisted in the crowd bringing pieces of linen cloth, said to be marked with a cross by the tapers kindled at the sacred fire; and these cloths were preserved as winding-sheets and sacred relics.
SOME SUPERSTITIONS OF THE GREEK CHURCH.
The Greeks of the Holy Land all believed as an unquestionable fact that the birds which fly about Jerusalem never sing during Passion Week, but stand motionless and confounded, as if in sorrow. Pilgrims to Jerusalem got certain marks imprinted on their arms with indelible characters, and which they afterwards produced as certificates of their pilgrimage. The Grecian populace ascribed to the waters of the Jordan the supernatural virtue of healing several distempers. The plant known as the rose of Jericho was in their opinion a sure defence against thunder and lightning. They also believed that on Easter Day the lands all round Cairo and the Nile throw up their dead and continue to do so till Ascension Day.
PRESTER JOHN.
The belief that a great Christian Emperor reigned in Asia arose in the twelfth century. He was called Presbyter Johannes, and had defeated the Mussulmans and was ready to assist the Crusaders. Pope Alexander III. once sent a physician with a letter to this Emperor, but the messenger was never again heard of. The first chronicler who mentioned the existence of this doubtful sovereign was Otto, who wrote at the date 1156, and stated that the Priest John’s kingdom was on the farther side of Persia and Armenia, and that he had routed the Persians after a bloody battle. He was supposed to belong to the family of the Magi who visited Christ in His cradle. He wrote a letter in 1165 to various Christian princes, giving details of the splendour of his country and his possessions. He said seventy-two kings paid him tribute, and the body of the holy Apostle Thomas was buried in his country beyond India. His country was the home of the elephant, the griffin, the centaur, the phœnix, giants, pigmies, and nearly all living animals.
LORETTO AND THE HOLY COTTAGE OF THE MADONNA.
The small city of Loretto, about twenty miles from Ancona, has been for five centuries a popular place of pilgrimage, so called from a grove of laurels in which the Santa Casa is said to have rested. This is the holy cottage which, according to the tradition, was the birthplace of the Virgin, as well as the dwelling of the Holy Family after the flight out of Egypt. The house was held in extraordinary veneration throughout Palestine after the Empress Helena discovered the true cross, and it was conveyedby angels from Nazareth in 1291 to the coast of Dalmatia, and in 1294 it was suddenly again transported to a grove near Loretto, and the Virgin appeared in a vision to St. Nicholas of Tolentino to announce its arrival to the faithful. It three times changed its position before settling down, and pilgrims soon flocked to visit it. The city is very small, and stands on a hill three miles from the sea, and it consists chiefly of shops which carry on a great trade in crowns, medals, and pictures of the Madonna di Loretto. The place now swarms with beggars who appeal for charity, while the shrine glistens with gold and diamonds. The church contains the Santa Casa, which is a small brick house twenty-nine feet long, thirteen feet high, and twelve feet broad, and a humble dwelling of rude workmanship is enclosed in a marble casing adorned with beautiful sculptures. In a niche above the fireplace is the celebrated statue of the Virgin said to have been sculptured by St. Luke. The height of this statue is thirty-three inches, and the child fourteen inches. The figures are rude, but are hung with glistening jewels; and silver lamps are constantly burning before the shrine. There are also three earthen pots here which are said to have belonged to the Holy Family.
KING RICHARD I.’s STORY OF AN INGRATE.
About 1196 Matthew Paris says that Vitalis, a Venetian noble, who was rich and miserly, went into a forest to hunt for venison for his daughter’s marriage feast, and fell into a large pit cunningly set for lions, bears, and wolves, out of which escape was impossible. Here he found a lion and serpent; but as he signed with the cross, neither animal, though fierce and hungry, ventured to attack him. All night he called aloud with lamentations for help, and a poor woodcutter being attracted, went to the pit’s mouth and heard the story. Vitalis offered him half of all his property—namely, five hundred talents—if he would rescue him; and the woodcutter said he would do so if Vitalis would be as good as his word. A ladder and ropes were brought and let down by the poor peasant, but the lion and serpent eagerly strove to be the first to rush out, and then came Vitalis, who was conducted to a place of safety, and being asked where and when the promise would be discharged, told his deliverer to call in four days at his palace in Venice for the money. The peasant went home to dinner, and while sitting at table was surprised to see the lion enter and lay down a dead goat, and then lick his feet. Then came the serpent, and brought a jewel as a present. When the peasant went to claim his money, Vitalis pretended he had neverseen or heard of the poor man, and ordered the latter to be put out by his servants and cast into prison. But by a sudden spring the peasant managed to escape, and then applied to the judges of the city. The judges at first hesitated; but when the peasant took witnesses, and visited the lion and serpent, both of which fawned on him, the justices were satisfied, and compelled Vitalis to fulfil his promise and pay compensation. This story used to be told by King Richard I. to expose the conduct of ungrateful men.
ST. FRANCIS AND HIS LOVE OF BIRDS.
One day St. Francis met in his road a young man on his way to Siena to sell some doves which he had caught in a snare. And Francis said to him, “My good young man! these are the birds to whom the Scripture compares those who are pure and faithful before God; do not kill them, I beseech thee, but give them rather to me.” And when they were given to him, he put them in his bosom and carried them to his convent at Ravacciano, where he made for them nests, and fed them every day, until they became so tame as to eat from his hand. And the young man had also his recompense, for he became a friar and lived a holy life from that day forth. St. Francis also loved the larks, and pointed them out to his disciples as always singing praises to the Creator. A lark once brought her brood of nestlings to his cell to be fed from his hand. He saw that the strongest of these nestlings tyrannised over the others, pecking at them, and taking more than his due share of the food. Whereupon the good saint rebuked the creature, saying, “Thou unjust and insatiable! thou shalt die miserably, and the greediest animals shall refuse to eat thy flesh.” And so it happened, for the creature drowned itself through its impetuosity in drinking; and when it was thrown to the cats they would not touch it. On St. Francis returning from Syria, in passing through the Venetian Lagune, vast numbers of birds were singing, and he said to his companion, “Our sisters the birds are praising their Creator; let us sing with them.” And he began the sacred service. But the warbling of the birds interrupted them; therefore St. Francis said to them, “Be silent until we have also praised God,” and they ceased their song and did not resume it till he had given them permission. On another occasion, preaching at Alviano, St. Francis could not make himself heard for the chirping of the swallows, which were at that time building their nests. Pausing, therefore, in his sermon, he said, “My sisters, you have talked enough; it is time that I should have my turn. Be silent and listen to the Word of God.” Andthey were silent immediately. On another occasion, as St. Francis was sitting with his disciple Leo, he felt himself penetrated with joy and consolation by the song of the nightingale, and he desired his friend Leo to raise his voice and sing the praises of God in company with the bird. But Leo excused himself by reason of his bad voice; upon which Francis himself began to sing, and when he stopped the nightingale took up the strain; and thus they sang alternately until the night was far advanced and Francis was obliged to stop, for his voice failed. Then he confessed that the little bird had vanquished him; he called it to him, thanked it for its song, and gave it the remainder of his bread; and having bestowed his blessing upon it, the creature flew away. A grasshopper was wont to sit and sing on a fig tree near the cell of the man of God, and oftentimes by her singing she excited him also to sing the praises of the Creator. And one day he called her to him, and she flew upon his hand; and Francis said to her, “Sing, my sister, and praise the Lord thy Creator.” So she began her song immediately, nor ceased till at her father’s command she flew back to her own place; and she remained eight days there, coming and singing at his behest. At length the man of God said to his disciples, “Let us dismiss our sister; enough that she has cheered us with her song and excited us to the praise of God these eight days.” So being permitted, she immediately flew away, and was seen no more. When Francis found worms or insects in his road, he was careful not to tread on them. He would even remove them from the path, lest they should be crushed by others. One day, in passing through a meadow, he perceived a little lamb feeding all alone in the midst of a flock of goats. He was moved with pity, and said, “Thus did our mild Saviour stand alone in the midst of the Jews and the Pharisees.” He would have bought the lamb, but had nothing in the world but his tunic. A charitable man, however, passing by and seeing his grief, bought the lamb and gave it to him. When he was at Rome in 1222, he had with him a pet lamb which accompanied him everywhere; and in pictures of St. Francis a lamb is frequently introduced.
ST. FRANCIS AND THE WOLF.
Another story of St. Francis is, that finding the neighbourhood of Gubbio was held in terror by the ravages of a wolf, he went out fearlessly to meet the beast, and when found he addressed the latter as “Brother Wolf,” and brought him to a sense of his wickedness in slaying not only brute animals but human creatures.And Francis promised that if his friend Wolf would desist from such practices the citizens of Gubbio would maintain him. Brother Wolf, as a token of this sensible overture, put his paw into the saint’s right hand and accompanied him to the town, where the people gladly ratified the preliminaries of the treaty. The wolf spent the rest of his days in innocence and competence, and when he died in his old age he was lamented by all Gubbio.
“ST. FRANCIS AND THE BIRDS,” BY A CONTEMPORARY.
Roger of Wendover, a contemporary of St. Francis, in noticing his death in 1227, thus describes him: “This servant of God, Francis, built an oratory in Rome, and, like a noble warrior, engaged in battle against evil spirits and carnal vices. When the Roman people despised him, he said, ‘I have preached the Gospel of the Redeemer to you. I therefore call on Him to bear witness to your desolation, and go forth to preach the Gospel of Christ to the brute beasts, and to the birds of the air, that they may hear the life-giving words of God and be obedient to them.’ He then went out of the city, and in the suburbs found crows sitting among the dead bodies, kites, magpies, and other birds flying about in the air, and said to them, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ, whom the Jews crucified, and whose preaching the wretched Romans have despised, to come to me and hear the Word of God in the name of Him who created you and preserved Noah in the ark from the waters of the deluge.’ All that flock of birds then drew near and surrounded him; and having ordered silence, all kinds of chirping were hushed, and those birds listened to the words of the man of God for the space of half a day without moving from the spot, and the whole time looked in the face of the preacher. This wonderful circumstance was discovered by the Romans passing and repassing to and from the city; and when the same had been repeated by the man of God to the assembled birds, the clergy and crowds of people went out and brought back the man of God with great reverence. And he then softened their obdurate hearts. His fame spread abroad, and many of noble birth, following his example, left the world and its vices. The order of the brethren soon increased and scattered the seed of the Word of God and the dew of the heavenly doctrine.”
BONAVENTURA ON “ST. FRANCIS AND THE BIRDS.”
Bonaventura, in his Life of St. Francis, thus explains the circumstance which Giotto the painter made the basis of hispainting: “Drawing nigh to Bevagno, Francis came to a certain place where a vast multitude of birds of different kinds were gathered together, whom seeing, the man of God ran hastily to the spot, and saluting them, as if they had been his fellows in reason (while they all turned round and bent their heads in attentive expectation), he admonished them, saying, ‘Brother birds, greatly are ye bound to praise your Creator who clotheth you with feathers, and giveth you wings to fly with and a pure air to breathe in, and who careth for you who have so little care for yourselves.’ While he thus spake the little birds, marvellously commoved, began to spread their wings, stretch forth their necks, and open their beaks, attentively gazing upon him. And he, glowing in the spirit, passed through the midst of them, and even touched them with his robe, yet not one stirred from his place until the man of God gave them leave, when with his blessing and at the sign of the cross they all flew away. These things saw his companions who waited for him on the road; to whom returning, the simple and pure-minded man began greatly to blame himself for having never hitherto preached to the birds.” One of the pictures by Giotto in the church of Assisium represents this legend, also a small picture in the Louvre at Paris.
ST. ANTONY PREACHING TO THE FISHES (A.D.1231).
St. Antony of Padua being come to the city of Rimini, where were many heretics and unbelievers, he was heard to say, that he might as well preach to the fishes, for they would more readily listen to him. The heretics stopped their ears and refused to listen to him; whereupon he repaired to the seashore, and stretching forth his hand, he said, “Hear me, ye fishes, for these unbelievers refuse to listen.” And truly it was a marvellous thing to see how an infinite number of fishes, great and little, lifted their heads above water and listened attentively to the sermon of the saint. The saint addressed them, and part of his sermon was as follows: “It is God that has furnished for you the world of waters with lodgings, chambers, caverns, grottoes, and such magnificent retirements as are not to be met with in the seats of kings or in the palaces of princes. You have the water for your dwelling, a clear, transparent element, brighter than crystal. You can see from its deepest bottom everything that passes on its surface. You have the eyes of a lynx or of an argus. The colds of winter and the heats of summer are equally incapable of molesting you. A serene or a clouded sky is indifferent to you. Let the earth abound in fruits, or be cursed with scarcity, it has no influenceon your welfare. You live secure in rains and thunders, lightnings and earthquakes. You have no concern in the blossoms of spring or in the glowings of summer, in the fruits of autumn or in the frosts of winter. You are not solicitous about hours or days or months or years, the variableness of the weather or the change of seasons. You alone were preserved among all the species of creatures that perished in the universal deluge. For these things you ought to be grateful; and since you cannot employ your tongues in the praises of your Benefactor, make at least some reverence—bow yourselves at His name.” He had no sooner done speaking than the fish bowed their heads and moved their bodies, as if approving what had been spoken by St. Antony. Heretics who had listened were converted, and the saint gave his benediction to the fishes and dismissed them.
ST. ROCH AND THE SUFFERERS FROM PLAGUE.
St. Roch was born of noble and wealthy parents at Montpellier in 1280. He was seized early with a consuming passion to render help to the sick and the poor, and abandoned all his wealth to become a pilgrim. He was eager to minister to the most helpless and to the plague-stricken. He was attacked during this mission with fever and ulcers, and crawled into the street; but being driven away for fear of contagion, he retired to the woods to die. There help came to him. He had a faithful little dog, and it went every day to the city and brought back to him a loaf of bread. An angel also came and dressed his wounds. He gloried in his sufferings; and at last, haggard and wasted, he returned to his own country and estate; but his relatives did not know him, and he was cast into prison and died. A bright supernatural light glowed around his dead body, and then it was discovered who he was. He died aged thirty-three. A hundred years later his great deeds were remembered, and his effigy was used to save Constance from the plague. The Venetians, when plague-stricken in 1485, also coveted his relics, and a plot to steal them was contrived. One night a conspirator carried off the saint’s body from Montpellier; and the doge, senate, and clergy of Venice, with inexpressible joy, went forth to meet the pious thief, and they built a magnificent church of St. Roch to contain the priceless relics. He and his dog were often painted by the great painters, and Rubens got a large sum for one of his great pictures on that subject for the confraternity of St. Roch at Venice. He is the patron saint of hospitals.
THE CRUSADERS AND PILGRIMS.
A MONK HISTORIAN ON THE CRUSADES.
The old chroniclers are elated with a fine enthusiasm when narrating the exploits of the first Crusaders. Orderic the monk, who died about 1141, thus describes the situation: “Lo, the crusade to Jerusalem is entered on by the inspiration of God; the people of the West miraculously flock together from many nations, and are led in one united army to fight against the execrable Saracens, who so long had defiled with their abominations all that is sacred. Never, I think, was a more glorious subject presented to those who are well informed in military affairs than that which is divinely offered to the poets and writers of our age in the triumph of a handful of Christians, drawn from their homes by the love of enterprise, over the Pagans in the East. The God of Abraham renewed His ancient miracles when, actuated only by their zeal to visit the Messiah’s tomb, and without the exercise of the authority of kings or any worldly excitement, but by the simple admonition of Pope Urban, He assembled the Christians of the West from the ends of the earth and the isles of the sea, as He brought the Hebrews out of Egypt by the hand of Moses, and led them through strange nations until He conducted them to Palestine, gave them victory over kings and princes and the assembled forces of many nations, and enabled them gloriously to conquer strongly fortified cities and to reduce towns under subjection to their arms. I, too, though the least of all the followers of the Lord in a religious rule of life, for the love I bear to the brave champions of Christ, am ambitious to celebrate their valiant achievements.”
CRUSADES BENEFICIAL TO THE CHURCH.
The crusades brought the civilisation of the West in contact with that of the Arabs, who were more advanced in some respects.Literature, science, navigation, and trade benefited. Large feudal estates were sold, and citizens of towns were enriched and set up by kings as a counterpoise to overpowerful vassals. The sees and monasteries became purchasers of large estates on easy terms. But the Popes were the chief gainers by the crusades. They acquired control over Western Christendom, and over the emperors, kings, and princes who engaged in this service, and plighted their faith to carry through great enterprises. The Popes claimed sovereignty over lands wrested from the infidels. But, above all, it gave the Popes a continual pretext for sending legates to interfere in every country and levy contributions, which, at first voluntary, soon took the form of rights to perpetual tribute.
THE PRACTICE OF PILGRIMAGES TO PALESTINE.
The desire of Christians to visit the tombs of martyrs and famous saints may be considered almost natural, but it received great encouragement from the Empress Helena’s discovery of the cross. The early Fathers were not emphatic in favour of the practice, for Jerome declared that heaven was as accessible from Britain as from Palestine. But in the sixth century the passion grew. Pilgrimages were projected and accomplished on a great scale. Hospitals were endowed for entertaining the pilgrims along the great highway. Pilgrims were exempted from toll. Charlemagne ordered that lodging, fire, and water be always supplied to them. In Jerusalem there were caravansaries for their reception. The pilgrim set forth amid the blessings and prayers of his kindred or community with his simple outfit—the staff, the wallet, and the scallop-shell; he returned a privileged, in some sense a sanctified, being. Pilgrimage expiated all sin. The bathing in the Jordan was, as it were, a second baptism, and washed away all the evil of the former life. The shirt which he had worn when he entered the holy city was carefully laid by as a winding-sheet, and possessed, it was supposed, the power of transporting him to heaven. The stable of Bethlehem, the garden of Gethsemane, the height where the Ascension took place, had a fascination for every eye. To gratify the pilgrims, the descent of fire from heaven to kindle the lights round the holy sepulchre had been played off from an early period before the wondering worshippers. Jerusalem also became the emporium of relics. Each pilgrim would bring back a splinter of the true cross or some special memorial of the Virgin or a famous saint. The demand for these was great, and the supply was inexhaustible. At a later period the silks, jewels, and spices of the East mingled in themart of holy things. Down to the conquest of Jerusalem by Chosroes the Persian, in 614, the tide of pilgrimage flowed uninterruptedly to the Holy Land; and even the Saracens in 637, when the conquerors, did not prohibit them, though the dangers increased.
EARLY TRAVELS IN PALESTINE.
The earliest traveller from Western Europe to the Holy Land who has left an account was Pierre Pithou from Bordeaux in 333. But pilgrims were often going on the same journey. In 385 St. Eusebius of Cremona, and his friend St. Jerome, and a large company also visited the chief places. Soon after St. Paula and her daughter went the round, and on Mount Zion they were shown the column to which Christ was bound when scourged. In the seventh century St. Antoninus went there also. When the Saracens obtained possession of Jerusalem in 637, they soon saw that it would be to their advantage to preserve the holy places and profit by the charges so many strangers were willing to pay. The French bishop, Arculf, visited Palestine about 690, and afterwards visited Northumberland and Iona. Pilgrims thereafter up to 980 brought worse and worse accounts of their treatment and the profanations of the holy places. The celebrated Gerbert, afterwards Pope, returned from a visit in 986, and suggested that the Christian world ought in some way to interfere. Soon after pilgrims went in armed bodies, and serious quarrels occurred. The news that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre had been thrown down excited great consternation in Europe about 1048. Changes in the rulers occurred at that time. At last Peter the Hermit, in 1095, raised to a frenzy all the adventurous enthusiasts till they arranged the First Crusade.
THE WAYS OF PILGRIMS.
The fashion of going on pilgrimage became noticeable in the fourth century, the Holy Land being the chief attraction. Hospitals were founded at convenient places to accommodate pilgrims. The order of Knights Templars was founded to escort the caravans and protect them in wild and dangerous places. Rome and the shrine of St. James at Compostella or Santiago were added in the Middle Ages as centres. Rich and poor joined in this desire of travel. The pilgrims repaid their entertainers with the news they carried from distant countries. Before a man went on pilgrimage he first went to his church and received the Church’s blessing and prayers. He lay prostrate at the altarwhile the priest and choir sang over him appropriate psalms, such as the twenty-fourth, fiftieth, and ninetieth. Then his scrip and palmer-staff were blessed and sprinkled with holy water, and the Mass was celebrated. The proper costume or pilgrim’s weeds were a grey woollen robe and felt hat, staff, scrip, and water-bottle. Some went barefoot as a penance, or made a vow not to cut hair or beard till the pilgrimage was accomplished. If the Holy Land was the destination, the robe was signed with the cross, as a special sign and token, and each, after accomplishing his round of holy places, was entitled to wear the palm, and hence was called palmer. The sign of the Compostella pilgrimage was the scallop-shell. The sign of the Canterbury pilgrims was an ampullar flask, so-called from the vessel in which the blood of the martyr Thomas à Becket had been collected. These flasks were at first of wood, but latterly of lead and pewter. A bell was often added to the ampulla. Besides the badge, these pilgrims had their gathering-cry, and the Canterbury pilgrims lightened their journey with song and music and sometimes the bagpipe. When the pilgrim returned home, he presented himself at church to give thanks. Often a procession would go to meet the returning pilgrim, especially as he usually brought presents of silk cloths to the churches for copes or coverings of the altars. The emblems of these pilgrimages were often depicted on the pilgrim’s tomb.
PETER THE HERMIT (A.D.1095).
When the Turks supplanted the Mohammedans as masters of Jerusalem, being a more fanatical and barbarous race they treated the Christians of Palestine as slaves, and pilgrims found it more and more dangerous to gratify their lifelong passion to visit that country. The growing indignation at this treatment found a noble champion in Peter the Hermit, who died 1115. He went the round of Christendom, and found all ready to enter into some great confederation, if they only knew how, to rescue the holy places from these accursed infidels. Peter was a Frank from Picardy, of ignoble stature, but with a quick and flashing eye; his spare, sharp person was full of fire from the restless soul within. He had himself visited the Holy Land, and his heart burned within him at the sight of the oppressions of Christian men. He told everybody he had had a vision when he was in the Temple; and the voice of the Lord Himself was heard in these very words: “Rise, Peter; go forth to make known the tribulations of My people; the hour is come for the delivery of My servants, for the recovery of the holy places!” Peter at oncewent forth, and had interviews with the Pope and with princes and great men, and all saw and confessed he was a true prophet. He rode round Europe on a mule with a crucifix in his hand, his head and feet bare; his dress was a long robe girt with a cord, and a hermit’s cloak of the coarsest stuff. His eloquence was heart-stirring, mingled here and there with tears and groans; he preached in pulpits, in highways and market-places. He beat his breast. He appealed to every passion—to valour and shame, to indignation and pity, to the pride of the warrior, the compassion of the man, to the religion of the Christian, to the hatred of the unbeliever, to reverence for the Redeemer, to the avenging of the saints, to the hopes of eternal life. He invoked the holy angels, the saints in heaven, the Mother of God, the Lord Himself. He called on the holy places, on Zion, on Calvary, on the holy sepulchre, to give forth their voices against these infidels. He held up the crucifix, as if Christ Himself was imploring them to be ready and act at once. Peter’s eloquence struck the true chord of sympathy, and electrified the crowds who listened and echoed his enthusiasm. Gifts showered upon him. All ages and both sexes crowded to touch even his garment. The very hairs that dropped from his mule were caught and treasured as relics. All Western Christendom gradually rose as one man in obedience to the spell. The Pope, Urban II., caught the contagion, and summoned and harangued the Council of Clermont in the same style. He called on all men through their bishops to rise and deliver these holy places, which were made dens of thieves and stalls for cattle, and were polluted and defiled by atrocities not to be named. While Christian blood was shed, it was time for them to gird on their swords. He assured them the Saviour Himself, the God of armies, would be their guide in battle. The wealth of their enemies would of course be theirs. He offered absolution for all sins; there was no crime which might not be redeemed by this act of obedience: absolution without penance would be granted to all who took arms in the sacred cause. Eternal life would be the portion of all who fell in battle or in the march to the Holy Land. For himself he must remain aloof; but while they were slaughtering the enemy, he would be perpetually engaged in fervent and prevailing prayer for their success. At the close of this harangue all admitted and felt the force of the enthusiasm, and exclaimed, “It is the will of God! it is the will of God!” The contagion spread. France, Germany, Italy, England, furnished wild multitudes, eager and ready to enlist in this glorious warfare. Allbegan to sharpen their spears and collect their outfit for a grand enterprise, certain to be a success.
POPE URBAN PREACHING FOR A CRUSADE (A.D.1095).
When Pope Urban in 1095 preached at the conclusion of the Council of Clermont, he thus urged on the faithful to join the crusade: “We see that the breadth of the whole world is now full of faithless and blaspheming Pagans, who worship stocks and stones. They have occupied as a perpetual possession the third part of the world, and that part wherein all the Apostles, except two suffered martyrdom for the Lord. They have also, with shame be it said, possession of Africa, that land which gave to mankind the Holy Scriptures and extinguished the errors of infidelity. They claim possession of our Lord’s tomb, and sell to our pilgrims for money admission to the holy city. Gird yourselves then for the battle, my brave warriors, for a memorable expedition against the enemies of the cross. Let the sign of the cross decorate your shoulders; let your outward ardour declare your inward faith. Turn against the enemies of Christ those weapons which you have hitherto stained with blood in battles and tournaments among yourselves. Let your zeal in this expedition atone for the rapine, theft, homicide, fornication, and deeds of incendiarism by which you have provoked the Lord to anger. In virtue of the power which God has given us, however unworthy of it, to bind and to loose, all who engage in this expedition in their own persons and at their own expense shall receive a full pardon for all the offences which they shall repent of in their hearts and with their lips confess, and we promise to the same and to all who contribute their substance an increased portion of eternal salvation. Go then, brave soldiers, secure to yourselves fame throughout the world; disown all fear of death. Those who die will sit down in the heavenly guest chamber, and those who survive will set their eyes on our Lord’s sepulchre.”
THE CRUSADERS’ HUNGER FOR EARTH OF PALESTINE.
At the time when the First Crusade was organised, Pope Urban harangued a vast crowd of the clergy and laity, urging them to join it, and adding: “What can be greater happiness than for any one in his lifetime to see those places where the Lord of heaven went about as a man?” All then believed the soil of Palestine to be sacred. Even its dust was adored. It was carefully conveyedto Europe in bagfuls and pocketfuls, and the fortunate possessor, whether by original acquisition or by purchase, was considered to be secured against the malevolence of demons. St. Augustine relates a story of the cure of a young man who had some of the dust of the holy city suspended in a bag over his bed. It became a fashion for each of the pilgrims to bring some home in his bag. At Pisa the cemetery of the Campo Santo was said to contain five fathoms of holy earth brought in 1218 from Palestine by the Pisans. Friends and neighbours walked with an intending pilgrim to the next town, and loaded him with their benedictions, and turned back with many tears. The village pastor delivered a staff to the pilgrim, and put round him a scarf or girdle, with a leathern scrip or wallet attached. They all believed that a prayer in Jerusalem was worth ten thousand common prayers in other places. There were hospitals and houses of rest provided for weary pilgrims on the road. In their first battles, they fancied they saw figures riding on white horses, and in white armour and cloth of gold, all in the air, helping them with celestial weapons. When they first caught sight of Jerusalem, all eyes were transfixed and bathed with tears and shining with rapture as they gazed on that hallowed spot.