ON BL. MARGARET, VIRGIN AND MARTYR AT LOUVAIN IN BRABANT, AT LOUVAIN IN BRABANT
Toward the beginning of the 13th century.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Margaret, V. & M., at Louvain in Brabant. (B.)
BY J. S.
§ I. The cult of the Blessed begun in the thirteenth century, increased and continued down to our own times.
[ ] Louvain, the chief and spacious city of Brabant on the river Dyle, which cuts through it, began from the thirteenth century to venerate Bl. Margaret, A little house built over the body of Bl. Margaret from the thirteenth century, as its virgin and martyr. The antiquity of this cult we have from Cæsarius of Heisterbach, a contemporary writer of the Cistercian Order, who in his Dialogues, or book 6 of Illustrious miracles and histories, chapter 34, composed the elogium of Bl. Margaret to be published below, and in it has this: About whose tomb (on the bank of the Dyle, where she had been slain) others, seeing lights by night, dug her up and carried her to Louvain, building a little chapel over her; and there are wrought to this day, her merits requiring it, miracles, both in the place of her slaying and in the place of the translation. That translation and the building of the little chapel suggest the beginning of the cult, especially because these things were done after the wonders were seen which are said to have happened after the Blessed's death. Nor can there be any doubt about the building of that little chapel or shrine, since it has always remained in the same place, and is there even now, though altered, as we shall see.
[2] Now that shrine, at first of wood, afterwards of stone, [which was made first of wood, then of stone: the body then translated and brought back:] was in a hollowed-out wall of the collegiate church of St. Peter, which is the chief church of the city of Louvain. Molanus in the Natales Sanctorum Belgii at 2 September, in the elogium of Bl. Margaret, writes the following about them: But from this narrative of Cæsarius … the paintings and writings of the shrine, in which the little body is kept, differ somewhat. There it is reported that she was never buried, but that her body, cast into the waters, was held up above the waters by the fishes, and returned to Louvain against the current: that angels also sang in heaven in a bright night. Which things the duke of Brabant with his consort, considering them as they stood on the pinnacle of the citadel, caused to be investigated point by point, and, the whole matter being known, the clergy and the senators bore the body in procession to the wall of the church of Saint Peter, where it is still seen in a little house, which used * to be of wood, but now is of stone. And when the stone one was being built, the body was inside the church. But when it was built, on the day before the dedication feast of Louvain, it was brought back to the old place by Ruard the dean and by all the clergy of the church. Thus far Molanus.
[3] Further, whether the body was buried on the bank of the Dyle, from which things the ancient cult is abundantly proved, as Cæsarius will have it, or whether it was not buried there; it is certain from both writers that it was carried to the wall of the church of St. Peter, and placed there in the outer part of the hollowed wall behind the choir, within a wooden shrine. But that the body was there not without a cult, various things suggest; first, the shrine itself, which Cæsarius calls a little chapel, and the place raised from the ground. Secondly, the miracles which the same writer testifies were done indicate that Margaret was invoked. Thirdly, the change of the wooden shrine into a stone one, which was put together about the year 1535, shows that that cult was continued. By whose liberality that stone chapel was built, the vernacular inscription teaches, which is still read on the chapel from the outside, and which I render into Latin thus: In honor of Margaret of Louvain * Martin de Boek, a fishmonger of Antwerp and a native citizen of Louvain, caused this work to be built. He died in the year 1535, on 8 October. Fourthly, the translation of the body to the church of St. Peter, and its return to the adjoining chapel, proves that all the aforesaid things were done not by the private piety of anyone, but by the public and common counsel of the whole clergy, especially since Ruard Tapper was a man most distinguished in piety and learning, and famous for his deeds and for the books he wrote, who would not have fostered the cult of Bl. Margaret unless it had been lawfully begun and continued.
[4] Fifthly, not only is the body of the Blessed kept honorably in the aforesaid shrine, which is made clear from the relics separately exposed for veneration, but also certain relics, once separated from the rest of the body, were exposed to the public veneration of the faithful, as we shall see is done even now with the head and the palate. Nay, certain other things too, out of veneration toward Bl. Margaret, were carefully preserved, and shown to the people with the other relics. Hear Molanus in the elogium already assigned: Another little vessel, which is of wood, in which she used to carry wine, is religiously preserved, adorned with silver, by the Absalons (that is, by someone of the noble stock of d'Absalons), who say that she was a maidservant of their ancestors. And they also send it from Brussels to the septennial exhibition of relics. At Louvain, with the little body, there is also preserved the ball which was thrust into her mouth against her cries. The house which she inhabited was called the hospice of St. George, in which a small chamber keeps its name from her. It is not indeed certain from what time some of Bl. Margaret's bones began to be kept separately, because, on Molanus's testimony, in the records of the church of St. Peter, which has more than once been burned, nothing about her survives: yet since already, when Molanus was writing, that is, in the sixteenth century, the aforesaid little vessel of the Blessed was shown every seven years with the other relics of Saints, and since both her head and her palate are now in the same way exposed to the veneration of the people, and since no beginning of that custom is known, it is quite probable that that usage is most ancient.
[5] and from the present-day cult, Sixthly, the beginning is likewise unknown of the cult which at this time is constantly rendered to Bl. Margaret, as the most eminent lord F. Scheppers attests, dean of the collegiate Chapter of St. Peter, who has most diligently searched out all the records, and with the greatest kindness has communicated to us whatever is customarily done in the church of St. Peter for the veneration of the Blessed, by a custom whose beginning is unknown. I subjoin the very words of that most eminent man: In the first place, every year on the Monday after the dedication feast of Louvain, which is the first Sunday of September, at the tenth hour a solemn Mass with music is sung at the altar of the venerable Margaret, of the most holy Trinity, by the lord treasurer of the chapter, and that Mass is on that day the Mass of the choir. On the same Monday every year the skull is exposed upon a silver dish on the said altar of the venerable Margaret: likewise the palate of her mouth, enclosed in a silver casket: and that palate is thus offered to be kissed by the faithful all that day: and the aforesaid skull remains all that day exposed likewise on that altar. When that Mass began to be so celebrated, or the rest of the cult of the venerable Margaret, we are wholly ignorant: and the elders of our choir assert that they have always seen it so practiced.
[6] whose beginning is unknown: Every seven years, or when all the other relics of Saints which are in our church are publicly exposed on the high altar; and on the eighth day of that exposition, when after Vespers a procession is made through the city, in which all the other relics of the Saints are carried around; then likewise there are carried around the skull on a silver dish, and likewise the palate of the venerable Margaret enclosed in a silver casket. Likewise that skull and palate remain for the octave with the relics exposed on the said high altar, and, like the other relics, are offered to the faithful to be kissed. When this began is also wholly hidden from us. Wherefore this cult is continued and practiced by immemorial custom. In those same seven-year intervals there is exposed on the high altar a water-jar which is said to be the venerable Margaret's. Wherefore, while that jar was still in the keeping of the de Machet family, every seven years it was handed over to the keeper of the treasury, that it might be exposed with the other relics on the high altar. But now, some six or seven years ago, the de Machet family gave this jar as a gift to the Chapter. This jar is the same which Molanus above calls a little vessel, which was in his time in the keeping of the d'Absalons family. In the Flemish Life printed in the year 1726, that little vessel is said to have long been kept in the possession of the Illustrious lord Dilbeeck, of the noble stock of d'Absalons; but at that time to have been in the possession of the lady widow Machet. Afterwards it was given to the chapter, as was just said.
[7] Toward the end of the past century the people of Louvain endeavored to restore or increase the pious devotion of the people toward Bl. Margaret. an image sketched in the year 1699 from more ancient ones: For this cause in the year 1699 a Life was written and printed in the vernacular: and an image engraved on copper, which I gave to our engraver to be imitated, and which I have had reproduced here. This image, which has been sketched from the ancient images of the chapel, exhibits those wonders that followed her death, which are reported by Molanus partly from the writings and paintings of the chapel, partly from tradition. But not all are equally certain, as he himself also indicated. The body is depicted floating on the waters and ascending against the current, angels are represented, because a harmony of angels is said to have been heard, the duke of Brabant with his consort is shown beholding these things: there is also placed at the side, as though on the walls of the city, the pot of the unbelieving woman, which they relate boiled over by a miracle. Lastly some guard set beside the body for decorum. Of all these things there will be treatment in its proper place. Meanwhile God seems to have approved the endeavor of the people of Louvain: for various benefits were obtained about the same time, which I shall report below from the Flemish Life, reprinted and enlarged in the year 1703.
[8] In the year 1722 a notable change was made in the chapel of the Blessed, [the chapel of the Blessed now united to the collegiate church, the entrance being changed:] so that it is now a part of the collegiate church, to which before it only adjoined. Concerning these things, to our purpose, Cornelius van Gestel writes in his History of the archbishopric of Mechlin, printed in the year 1725, page 151, where first, of the chapel as it was before, he speaks thus briefly: Contiguous and adjoining to the basilica of St. Peter is a shrine or chapel in which rests Margaret of Louvain. And after a few words: When at the close of the seventeenth century the devotion and visitation of the people of Louvain and of their neighbors toward this Margaret of Louvain grew daily, it seemed good, that satisfaction might be given to the pious desire of many, to gild her shrine, and to adorn it more becomingly, and to expose it in the church for the public rite of the faithful. Therefore in the year 1722, the wall of the church being opened, they reduced it to the form of a notable chapel in St. Peter's, in which there is now daily the pious visitation of the people of Louvain and of others, and the public invocation of her patronage with God. The benefits obtained through her from the Most High are witnessed by the votive offerings which are daily offered in this chapel. The lord Scheppers just praised, dean of St. Peter's, agrees with these things, affirming that the door of the chapel of Bl. Margaret, through which entrance was had from the street, was closed in the year 1722, and a new entrance given through the church itself. Now there was in that part of the church behind the choir the chapel of St. Margaret virgin and martyr, which was separated only by a wall from the chapel of Bl. Margaret of Louvain. That wall being now broken through, from the chapel of St. Margaret there is an open entrance into the chapel of Bl. Margaret of Louvain. Then, says the praised dean, that chapel was more becomingly adorned, and votive offerings publicly exposed, and pictures of various persons who, trusting in the patronage of the venerable Margaret, were helped by God. The same man also testifies that various silver and waxen votive offerings were in the chapel before the change.
[9] the five-hundredth year solemnly celebrated and the Life reprinted. In the year 1725, on the 9th day of September, the clergy and people of Louvain with magnificent display celebrated the five-hundredth year of the glorious death of Bl. Margaret. In this solemnity the eminent lord Hermann Daemen, dean of St. Peter's and doctor of sacred theology, sang the solemn Mass: a long train of supplicants from all the orders was set in procession through the city, followed then by another train in carriages and on horses arrayed for the pomp. Much adornment was to be seen in the chief places of the city, and many chronographic inscriptions elegantly composed in honor of the Blessed, of which I subjoin the first as a specimen: To Margaret their fellow-citizen, conspicuous for unharmed virginity, glorious for blood shed five hundred years ago, the senate and people of Louvain. The rest pertaining to this festivity will be supplied by the little book printed at Louvain in the same year in the Flemish tongue. Lastly, in the year 1726 the Flemish Life of Bl. Margaret was reprinted, and that edition was enlarged with some things which had happened after the three preceding editions. Thus far briefly concerning what has been done at Louvain for the veneration of Bl. Margaret.
[10] the title of Blessed given to Margaret long since, and befitting her Further, these tokens of veneration, both ancient and present-day, are such that I have judged the title of Blessed not to be denied to our Margaret, although I am not unaware that some have abstained from this title. I have not judged, I say, that one must abstain from this title, partly because the same title has long since been given to Margaret by various writers, partly because this Virgin is honored with that veneration of the faithful which is fitting only for the Blessed, and lastly because the cult of Margaret seems so ancient that it not only exceeds by a hundred years the decree of Urban VIII, given in the year 1634, but perhaps by four centuries as well. It is true indeed that Margaret is not honored with an ecclesiastical Office or a proper Mass, nor does it seem that her beatification or canonization was ever thought of. But many servants and handmaids of God are adorned with the title of Blessed, even though they have neither been numbered among the Blessed by a formal beatification, nor are honored with a proper Office or Mass, provided that from time immemorial, that is, a hundred years before the decree of Urban VIII, they have been in possession of a cult, as Bl. Margaret certainly seems to have been.
[11] on account of an ancient and always continued cult. Indeed these are the tokens of a most ancient cult. The translation of the body and the building of a little chapel over the body. That these things were done Cæsarius attests, a writer of the thirteenth century, who also calls her martyr. Take his words: You see now how much simplicity and innocence of life avail toward martyrdom. All indeed have been slain, but not all shine with miracles. Whence it is plain that it is not the punishment that makes a martyr, but the cause. In the Ms. to be published below, whose date and author are unknown, she is also called a martyr of God, and blessed Virgin in three places, elsewhere most blessed virgin and holy virgin; and the body of the deceased is also called the holy body of the Virgin, and a holy treasure. Of the chapel, indeed, the same writer speaks thus at num. 14: And over her they built a gracious chapel, and there are wrought unto this present day, her merits requiring it, divers miracles in that place. So the author of the Ms. Life, at an uncertain time indeed, but doubtless more than a hundred years before the bull of Urban. It cannot therefore be doubted concerning the sufficient antiquity of the cult. Nor does there appear any doubt that that cult was always continued: for it flourished in the time of Cæsarius, that is, in the thirteenth century; it flourished in the time of the author of the Ms. Life, who probably flourished in the fourteenth or fifteenth century; it flourished in the time of Ruard Tapper about the year 1535, as is abundantly clear from the translation of the body and the change of the wooden chapel into a stone one. Lastly, the same cult flourished in later times and even now flourishes, as is clear from what has been related before. These things, for the sake of those who seem to have doubted about the cult of the Blessed, will be still further explained after the words of the martyrologists have been reported.
Annotationssolebat*
* In the vernacular, Fiere Margrietken
§ II. The memory of the Blessed in more recent Calendars: why she is called Blessed by some, and by others only Venerable? The body and the other relics.
[ ] Her memory announced by some with the title of Venerable, The things which have been set forth concerning the cult of Bl. Margaret gave more recent martyrologists occasion for inserting her in their Martyrologies or Menologies, yet under a different title. Molanus in the Natales Sanctorum Belgii at the 2nd day of September celebrates her with a long elogium, of which this is the beginning: There is famous also at Louvain the memory of the venerable little Margaret, who in the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred and twenty-five is recorded to have suffered. He does not call her blessed, but by the word "suffered" he suggests that she is a martyr, and below more clearly, saying: The day of her martyrdom is unknown. With the same title of venerable, Miræus in the Fasti Belgici et Burgundici, Willot in the Belgian Martyrology, and Rayssius in the Hierogazophylacium Belgicum record Margaret of Louvain. Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology at 2 September announces our Margaret in smaller type in this fashion: At Louvain in Brabant, by an agony as happy as it was unforeseen, there passed to Christ the maiden Margaret, a candidate of the Cistercian Order: who, when she was girded for a journey, that she might take the sacred habit of Religion at the monastery of Villers, was butchered by impious robbers (who, breaking by night into the house, had killed her parents, sharers in the same vow), and received the crown of martyrdom. She rests at Louvain in a stone shrine which adjoins the church of Saint Peter the apostle. Several things in this elogium are to be corrected, which we shall discuss below. The Calendar of the Cistercian Order printed at Dijon in the year 1617 has briefly on the same day thus: Little Margaret, virgin and martyr, at Villers.
[13] by others with the title of Blessed: Others, however, have adorned Margaret of Louvain with the title of Blessed. Chrysostom Henriquez in the Cistercian Menology at 2 September wove for her this elogium: At Louvain, the passion of blessed Margaret, who, when she had resolved to take the Cistercian habit, and had long since thought to offer herself to God among the virgins of our institute, being savagely butchered earned the palm of martyrdom. Whose sanctity the harmony of angels, a divine splendor, and frequent miracles wrought at her tomb have confirmed. Claude Chalemot, in the Series of the Saints etc. of the Cistercian Order, at the same day announces Margaret thus: At Louvain in Belgium, the passion of blessed Margaret, virgin and distinguished neophyte of the Cistercian Order. For when she had a purpose of taking the habit of the Order, and was in readiness for the journey, and was proceeding on this business as far as the monastery of Villers in Brabant, and was found on the way by robber men, and was solicited to sin, when she resisted their abominable lust with all her strength, after suffering violence she was savagely slain. But her body, unburied after so savage a slaughter, and cast into the waters, was preserved by the fishes: and being brought to Louvain against the natural flow of the waves, by the ministry of angels sounding in melody, it was entombed with becoming honor in a chapel built for this purpose, shining with continual miracles. Again there are many things here to be corrected or more fully discussed, as will be done below. Arthur du Monstier in the Gynæceum relates the same things about the Blessed as Henriquez just praised, although he cites several other writers in his annotations. Francis Lahier in the Menology of the Holy Virgins, written in French, at 2 September celebrates Margaret with a longer elogium as a blessed virgin and martyr. At the end, moreover, he asserts that she is honored on the same day, 2 September, in the church of St. Peter, and that many miracles have been and are wrought there. This writer's Work was printed in the year 1645.
[14] because she can be called only Blessed on account of an immemorial cult, Further, it may now be asked why Molanus, a doctor of Louvain, who seems to have been better informed than all other recent writers about the cult of the Blessed, why Miræus and the others mentioned above, why finally the most eminent lord dean of St. Peter's, praised at num. 5, and others to be praised below, have named her not blessed but venerable, if she can rightly be called blessed. I answer that they seem to have spoken so cautiously because the title of Blessed befits Margaret of Louvain only because from time immemorial before the decree of Urban VIII her cult was in possession, and thereafter remained so. Now such servants of God are indeed commonly named blessed, because they are honored as Blessed: yet the title is given to them less properly than to others who have been ascribed to the Blessed by the express authority of the Roman Pontiff, as the Most Eminent Lambertini observed (today Pope Benedict XIV) in his Work on the beatification of the Servants of God, vol. 2, book 2, chapter 14, num. 7, where, having spoken of certain Blessed on account of an immemorial cult, he adds this: Since most of the examples adduced regard Blessed only so commonly named, who are rather to be called Servants of God deceased with a reputation of sanctity than Blessed by right, etc. And so Molanus, since he acknowledges the cult, and others, since they have that same cult most clearly in view, by the word venerable seem to understand the same thing that others understand by the word blessed taken less strictly.
[15] Nor did the Most Eminent Lambertini disapprove this manner of speaking, although he acknowledges it to be less proper, but rather he himself always used it. as innumerable others are called Blessed, whose cult is lawfully continued, And indeed thus the Servants of God who are lawfully honored may be better distinguished from others who are indeed named venerable, and yet cannot lawfully be honored with the same cult until they have been ascribed to the Blessed by the Church. Further, in order that the title of Blessed may lawfully be continued with the cult, there is no need of a declaration of the Apostolic See or of the Ordinary of the diocese, as again the Most Eminent writer proves in chapter 17, num. 7, concerning an immemorial cult, saying that the superiors and keepers of churches are not bound to press before the ordinary or the Apostolic See for a declaration of immemorial cult, when it is only a question of that cult not being removed, unless perhaps something be opposed to the cult and its removal be attempted. And presently in chapter 18 he says: Innumerable examples, moreover, would be at hand by which the things that have been said thus far might be confirmed: but it will be enough to have indicated only a few. Then he reviews various Servants of God who remain in possession of an immemorial cult without beatification, or a declaration of the Apostolic See, or even of the Ordinary: and all of them without scruple he calls blessed.
[16] It pleases me to transfer hither one of the aforesaid examples. In the church of the Lateran Canons of this same city of Bologna … as is shown by a similar example, there stands the chapel of the lords de Bentivoglio, erected in honor of saint Cecilia, where is buried the body of blessed Helena dall'Olio, a virgin of Bologna… Now this blessed Helena died in the year 1520, on the 23rd day of September: from which time indeed until the present, with the Ordinaries knowing and in no way objecting, a public cult has been rendered to her: for not only has she been everywhere called Blessed, and her image painted with rays and splendors: but also on her feast day the casket in which her body is laid up is opened, and exposed to the veneration of the people. There have also always been hung at her tomb tokens for the graces conferred by God at her intercession… An Office is not indeed recited in her honor, nor is a Mass celebrated; but from the time of her death until now a feast has been and is kept on her anniversary day with peculiar display, and with a preceding ringing of the bell in sign of the festivity to be held.
[17] Yet the cause of the beatification and canonization of this Blessed has never been introduced; [although neither a beatification nor a declaration of immemorial cult has been made.] nor was any process ever drawn up by the Ordinaries upon her immemorial cult, that is, of a hundred years before the publication of Urban VIII's decrees: yet since no controversy was ever raised about its antiquity, and since the bishops for the time being, as has been said, knew and approved the exhibition of the aforesaid public cult, this Blessed remains in possession of it. Anyone will easily see that the cult of Bl. Margaret is quite similar: and this the most illustrious archbishop of Mechlin, Humbert William, seems to have acknowledged in the year 1699: for on the occasion of the devotion toward the Blessed being restored, he did indeed consult our Predecessors whether he might permit that cult; but he never forbade either the image or the Life printed with the title of Blessed in the same year. For the rest, I have judged that these matters concerning the lawful veneration of Bl. Margaret should be more fully explained, because I have seen that some have at one time doubted of it. Now we shall subjoin some things about the relics of the blessed Virgin, as being most closely connected with the cult.
[18] The body, or the bones, of the Blessed still rests in the chapel before mentioned, and in a case gilded on the front. In the Flemish Life printed in the year 1726 these things are read about her bones, page 14: [The body still preserved in the same chapel; the skull and palate separately: a part sent to Maastricht,] The head and the other bones even at this time are hard and entire: nay, the teeth still fixed in the jaw are whiter than the teeth of a child. Nay, even today those relics breathe a good odor; they kindle and refresh the hearts of all who with pious confidence visit her sacred pledges. That the skull and palate are exposed separately to the veneration of the faithful has already been said at num. 5. In the year 1721 a certain part of the said relics was sent to Maastricht on the Meuse, and given to the most eminent lord Baron de Rhoe, canon and Precentor of the collegiate church of St. Servatius, who attests that he was freed from a long-standing malady of the chest after he had laid that particle upon his breast. The authentic instruments of all these things, from the capitular acts of the collegiate church of St. Peter of Louvain, fol. 413, were most courteously communicated to us by the dean of the praised church, the most eminent lord Scheppers. Wherefore I transfer them hither, that it may be clear that the cult of our Blessed is not confined within the city of Louvain. But it is to be noted that the first letters, in the name of the Most Eminent Cardinal, archbishop of Mechlin, were given by the Vicars general, while the Most Eminent Lord had set out for Rome for the election of a new Pontiff.
[19] [as appears from the letters of the Ordinary, granting the faculty for their separation,] Thomas Philip, Cardinal Priest of the Holy Roman Church, of Alsace de Boussu, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See Archbishop of Mechlin, primate of Belgium, etc., etc. By the tenor of these presents we commission the very reverend and most eminent lord Hermann Damen, Doctor and Professor of Sacred Theology, canon and dean of the distinguished collegiate church of St. Peter at Louvain, that with two canons to be taken by himself for this purpose he may separate and take some part from the bones of the venerable Margaret of Louvain, and may hand it, enclosed in some casket and sealed with his seal, to the lord Precentor of the chapter of St. Servatius at Maastricht on the Meuse, drawing up and granting thereupon the testimonial letters necessary and required for it. Given at Mechlin on the 12th day of November 1721; it was signed, P. F. Baert, Provost, Vicar General, L. J. A. de Vischer, Vicar General, C. P. Hoynck van Papendrecht, Vicar General. Then the seal of the most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal archbishop, impressed in red wax, and below thus: By mandate of the most eminent and most reverend lord, lord Cardinal archbishop. Signed, B. de Ruddere, Secretary. (L. S.)
[20] of the dean of St. Peter's of Louvain, separating them, By virtue of the above-written commission, the undersigned dean of St. Peter's of Louvain, on this 23rd of November 1721, in the presence of the lords Francis Martinez and Francis T'santels, canons of St. Peter's of Louvain, opened the monument in which are enclosed and preserved the sacred bones of blessed Margaret of Louvain, and from them took some part, enclosed in this casket and sealed with my seal, and to be handed over to the lord B. de Rhoe, canon and precentor of St. Servatius at Maastricht on the Meuse. In faith and strength whereof I have signed these with my own hand, and fortified them with my own seal, on the day, month and year as above; and it was signed, Hermann Damen, Doctor and professor of Sacred Theology, dean of the distinguished collegiate church of St. Peter of Louvain. Then his seal impressed in red wax. (L. S.)
[21] of the dean of St. Servatius of Maastricht, examining them, I the undersigned declare that I lawfully received, to be examined and opened, from the hands of the most noble and very reverend lord baron de Rhoe, canon and precentor etc. of the greater church of Maastricht on the Meuse, a small round pinewood box, and that I found it untouched and sealed round about with a fourfold impression of the seal of the reverend and most eminent lord dean of Louvain; and when I had opened it in the presence of the aforesaid lord precentor, I declare moreover that I found in it a notable part of the spine of the back, or an entire vertebra, together with this authentic instrument. In faith whereof, subscribing this declaration with my own hand and fortifying it with my seal, I gave it at Maastricht on the Meuse, on the fourth of the Ides of January of the year 1722. It was signed, H. F. Bonhomme, canon and dean of the greater church of Saint Servatius, and protonotary of the holy See. Then his seal impressed in red wax. (L. S.)
[22] I the undersigned attest that the aforesaid sacred bone of the venerable Margaret of Louvain is enclosed in a silver casket, [and of the Precentor of the same church, who attests that he was helped by their use.] made in the manner of a monstrance, and that it is exposed with the highest honor on every Sunday and feast day: moreover I declare that I recovered from a long and great pain of the chest by the mere placing of that sacred bone upon my breast: which medicine, applied in great abundance and over a long interval of time, could not effect in the least. Wherefore, in thanksgiving for this and other benefits, I have proposed to erect in honor of the venerable Margaret of Louvain a pious foundation in a suitable place. In faith whereof I have signed these with my own hand, and fortified them with my seal. Given this 21st of July 1725. It was signed, J. F. Baron de Rhoe, canon and precentor of the free and imperial church of St. Servatius of Maastricht on the Meuse: etc. I attest the agreement, H. Barre, secretary of the aforesaid Chapter and Apostolic notary, 1745.
Annotationsut*
sollicitata*
§ III. More recent benefits, from the Flemish Life rendered into Latin.
Benefits touched on in general, The Flemish Life published at Louvain in the year 1699 speaks only in general of the benefits which are attributed to the patronage of Bl. Margaret. But in the same Life, reprinted and enlarged in the year 1703, not a few are narrated one by one, which our Pinius rendered into Latin while he was thinking to illustrate these Acts, a thing which he could not carry out, illness coming upon him. Receive, therefore, reader, the things which are first narrated in general in the praised Life, page 18 and following: It is greatly to be lamented that many wonders, miracles, healings, and gifts of soul and body, obtained by the merits of our blessed Virgin and martyr, have remained in darkness through negligence, fire, ill-will and in other ways. For from various regions and regions, even from Italy, it is understood that many persons, by her patronage, have obtained great gifts, nay rather that they receive whatever they ask, as has lately been declared afresh by witnesses worthy of credit, who were stirred to it after the relics had been a little cleansed. And it is plain that some, by applying merely a scrap of the paper on which the relics had rested to their sore afflictions, at once found themselves better, and could suddenly walk: nay more, placing something of that same paper upon their head, they were suddenly freed from the vexing spirit which was a hindrance to them, that they could not pray. Others were at once healed of the falling sickness, and many of various evil afflictions: so that it is expedient that request be made to the most illustrious archbishop of Mechlin, that he commission his dean of Christianity or others for a lawful examination of the wonders and graces obtained by the merits of blessed Margaret of Louvain. Thus far, there, in general concerning the heavenly favors conferred by her.
[24] a pain of the side with an affliction of the toes, In the same place, from page 22, these things are narrated about them one by one: Clement Baelmans, bachelor in law, sixty-seven years of age, after he had labored for about five years with a notable and almost continual stitch in his right side, which (besides the other bodily ills with which he was afflicted, as among others that both his great toes had been dislocated for several years now: nor could he be freed from the trouble by certain remedies applied to it) at last drove him to the use of a staff from the September last past, that he might walk a little more easily. But now, when he heard many things narrated about the wonders which God wrought through the intercession of blessed Margaret, he resolved to have recourse to her. When therefore he had risen with that mind on the morning of 1 July in the year 1699, he felt himself so unusually afflicted with the aforesaid trouble of the side and pain of the feet that with the very greatest difficulty he betook himself to her chapel, even though he used his staff.
[25] driven away by the patronage of Bl. Margaret, When at last he had come there, he hands to the woman to whom the care of that chapel was committed two leaves of paper, that she might see to touching the relics of blessed Margaret with them. He receives them back, and puts them in one of the pockets of his garment, intending to apply them to his right side. Then he recited the Lord's Prayer and the Angelic Salutation three times in honor of the aforesaid blessed Margaret. But behold a wonderful thing! Scarcely had he finished these prayers when he found himself so freed both from the torment of his side and from the pain of his feet, that without the use of his staff, and without the least difficulty, he returned home; and, what is most to be wondered at, that on rising the next morning he found that both his great toes, which for many years had been out of place, and stiff and immovable, had begun to move themselves, and that the joints, before the end of the nine days' devotion which he had undertaken, had of their own accord returned to their place without the least pain or torment, and had so remained, as the Deponent also confessed today, 13 August 1701. Moreover, inasmuch as he is much subject to colic pains, very often, when the hand with which he wrote this testimony was applied to the place where he was tormented, he was several times freed at once, and often a little afterwards.
[26] and thanks publicly given for the benefit: In acknowledgment of which benefits, which he holds for miracles, he left his staff in the aforesaid chapel for a memorial: and also on 2 September 1699, the day of the commemoration of the martyrdom of the aforesaid blessed Margaret, he ordered a solemn Mass to be sung with music by the very reverend lord Oswald F. Crabeels, president of the Savoy college, and then Rector Magnificus of the university of Louvain, with the eminent lords Peter Marcelis and Hermann Damen, doctors of sacred theology, assisting him, and the Reverend and Excellent Lord Nicholas Pauwels, licentiate of sacred theology, and parish priest of St. Peter's, etc. No less wonderful and singular is the healing of a woman lame and feeble, who, having recourse to this Blessed, obtained her former health.
[27] The matter is narrated in the aforesaid Louvain Life in this fashion. a woman lame and feeble from childbirth, On the 22nd day of February 1699 the wife of Michael Donckers, by name Margaret Tillemans, born at Louvain, being with child, gave birth. Since her means at home were scanty, seven days after the birth she was carried to the hospital, that better provision for her refreshment and healing might be made there. From the childbirth she retained a feebleness or languor in both legs; and though hoping that by medical and surgical remedies and medicines she would gradually recover, she nevertheless remained altogether lame and feeble; so that, since no hope of health shone forth, the aforesaid Margaret, after she had been in the hospital three whole months, except for three days, was brought home, where she labored under the same feebleness three months more and fourteen days. Meanwhile, as she confesses, and as is plain from the fact that she often said, while she was still living in the hospital, that she was borne with a singular affection of piety toward the blessed virgin Margaret of Louvain, and that she had great confidence in her help; the aforesaid Margaret firmly resolved and promised that for nine successive days she would daily recite thirty-three times the Lord's Prayer, and as many Angelic Salutations, in honor of the life of thirty-three years which Christ lived, that she might be helped by the aid and patronage of the blessed Virgin, if indeed this were profitable to her for salvation, always persuading herself, and impelled as it were by a divine instinct, that she would certainly be healed of her feebleness by the grace of God, provided she could creep to the little chapel in which the venerable relics of the aforesaid blessed Virgin rest, and could there honor them.
[28] And, behold, her hope did not disappoint her: for scarcely had she uttered her vow, the Blessed being invoked before the chapel, she is suddenly healed: than her zeal and piety grew ever more and more, as she strove for nothing else than that this happiness might befall her, whereby she might visit the venerable relics and honor them with her prayers. She had now for six days daily paid the prayers she had promised, when the aforesaid Margaret, on 9 February 1700, with her nephew, who was to lead her, betook herself in the evening with firm purpose to the little chapel, that she might there pour out her prayers, as she desired: and the nearer she drew to the place, the worse she became, nay, altogether failing, with great difficulty she reached the chapel, as her guide attests, who bears witness to the deed. The said Margaret, when she was already before the little chapel, outside it on a bench placed there for those who pray, came more to herself, and when she began her prayers, she felt a great disturbance in her body. A little after, being better, she rose, giving her staff to her guide. Nay, she easily raised herself without help, and without staff or guide, and with joy and gladness praising God she returned home; and, as is clear to all, she suddenly recovered her natural strength, so that she ought to praise and pray to almighty God, who is so wonderful in his Saints, that she may not abuse the grace and mercy which she obtained, but so enjoy them in this world that they may profit her unto honor and glory in heaven, etc.
[29] To these things is subjoined the following testimony: I the undersigned, who wrote these things, [as is confirmed by the testimony of him who inquired into the circumstances of the matter:] have accurately inquired into everything, both from the woman who was lame and feeble and from the young man who led her to the little chapel, and I find that they were true with all their circumstances, as they have been narrated above: and I also on my part testify that the woman is very well known to me, and that I am her confessor; and that she has on various occasions told me that she had a singular confidence in the help and intercession of the blessed virgin Margaret: by whose prayers and help, as we trust, she suddenly obtained her health: which happened between the fifth and sixth hour of the evening on the ninth day of February 1700. Lamb. Schepers, vice-pastor in the hospital of Louvain. This is the ✠ mark of Margaret Tillemans. John van Doornen, young man. To these others are presently subjoined in this fashion.
[30] [a deaf man attending a Mass in honor of the Blessed gradually recovers his hearing:] Today, 22 June 1699, appeared John vander Veren, born at Louvain, about forty-five years of age, having to wife Catherine Persoons, who declares and testifies that it is true that, namely, six weeks ago, when he had come from the college of the Castle, where he had done some work, as far as the tavern commonly called den Gulden kop, a heaviness of the head suddenly seized him, with a great distemper accompanying it, by which he became altogether deaf like a stone. He applied to the trouble remedies prescribed by physicians; but experiencing no help from them, he left off those remedies, and so remained in the same deafness for about three weeks; until the daughter of the widow lady Leunckens advised his wife to have recourse to blessed Margaret of Louvain. And he, since he could hear nothing at all, was told by his wife by signs to have recourse to blessed Margaret of Louvain; and this was done on a Thursday: and since, although he was deaf, he could speak, he told his wife that on the next day, which was Friday, he would begin his novena in honor of the aforesaid blessed Margaret, and all Friday he fasted, content with bread and water alone, and began the novena. But on Sunday, the third day of his novena, he betook himself to the church of St. Peter, that he might assist at the holy sacrifice of the Mass in honor of blessed Margaret. And during the Mass he began to hear the singing of the choir, and so little by little he heard more clearly, and on the seventh day he was healed, and recovered his hearing altogether entire, and such until now as he had had before, offering himself ready to confirm this testimony by oath, and he subscribed it with his own mark. This is the ✠ mark of John vander Veren. Before us. P. Marcelis, Doctor of Sacred Theology, Cornelius Cleynaerts.
[31] a vow being made and paid, a woman's knee healed: Maria Pedringo, born at Louvain, some years ago fell upon her knee: and while she neglected this, that trouble grew so much worse that the knee swelled up like the head of a child. Wherefore she was compelled to use physicians, and to commit herself to the hands of surgeons, but without result. Therefore in the month of August of the year 1699 she takes refuge with our blessed Margaret, having made a vow of visiting her chapel for nine days. She paid the vow, and on the ninth day found herself entirely healed.
[32] a little girl healed by nine days' prayers: Antony Francis de Pratel, professor of the Burgundian tongue in the university of Louvain, has a little girl two years and a half old, by name Maria Henrica. That girl could scarcely stand on her feet by reason of a weakness which very skilled physicians had judged incurable. The parents, full of hope in the merits of blessed Margaret, ordered that same girl to be carried for nine days to the chapel by a woman whose name was Frances Gautier, that there she might perform the nine days' devotion in the name of the girl whom she had with her. Scarcely had this pious exercise been begun when it was observed that the girl was better, and so far so that within the time of those nine days she came to perfect health, in which she perseveres to the present day robust and strong.
[33] a maiden freed of a fever present in the chapel, Adriana vander Motten, a maiden devoted to God, twenty-nine years old, testifies that she was oppressed five or six times with a quotidian fever, of which she daily suffered a double paroxysm. She, having recourse to the patronage of blessed Margaret, on the last day of April 1699, as she goes on to testify, was entering the chapel, laboring under a present fever; and when she had performed her prayers there, she was suddenly healed of the fever, which afterwards did not return, ascribing this sudden healing to the intercession of this blessed Virgin.
[34] Certain humors fell so violently upon one of the eyes of Maria Staes, another woman with an affliction of the eye, that she took it into her mind that she would be deprived of it. In this danger she had recourse to our blessed Margaret full of hope: by whose patronage she obtained from God entire health, no remedies being applied.
[35] Edward Essinck, notary, declares that his son Gregory Joseph Edward, in Holy Week of the year 1699, was seized with a violent continual fever, a boy with a continual and dangerous fever, which in the judgment of the physicians was very dangerous, because it grew more and more grievous by the day. His wife and himself, who took no small grief from the dangerous illness of their son, had recourse to blessed Margaret: they vowed a Mass to be said in her honor, and without delay sent their maidservant to her chapel, to offer some gift there, and to light a candle: this maid, bathed abundantly in tears, carried out her orders, and was returning home, fearing lest the child should die: but the matter fell out far otherwise: for scarcely had the candle been lit when the boy was in entire health, asking for the little stick with which he used to play in his bed, with no trace of fever appearing: of which he wholly recovered from that moment of time.
[36] Maria de Clerck of Louvain used to be afflicted with a very grievous pain of the head. a woman with a grievous pain of the head: Not knowing, however, by what remedy she might drive off this trouble, she determines that some paper should be applied to the relics of blessed Margaret, with which she might cover her head. Scarcely had she done this when she obtained from her trouble entire health, the reward of her pious confidence.
[37] A certain Beguine of Louvain of good life, about fifty years of age, a Beguine hindered from prayer by a malignant spirit, in the month of November 1698 fixed her hope in the patronage of blessed Margaret of Louvain, trusting that she would be delivered from her ills through the merits of this blessed Virgin and martyr. For twenty-five years she had been so burdened, both in body and in soul, that during all that time she could not recite even a single Angelic Salutation, nor the litanies, nor any other prayers, however much she forced herself to pray, and to overcome the temptations of the malignant spirit, as her confessors know very well, and many other pious persons.
[38] But from the first day on which she invoked the intercession of our Blessed, by the Blessed's patronage she obtains the grace of prayer: she obtained the grace of prayer, which the malignant spirit has not been able hitherto to hinder. She always carries with her some part of the paper which touched the body of blessed Margaret. She labored moreover under a certain trouble of the leg, so harmful to her that she could not walk. As soon as she applied something of the said paper to the leg, she walked without difficulty; and when she laid it on the sore, from which many humors flowed, the sore was dried up. On the vigil of the Lord's Nativity in the year 1699 she visited her chapel, and gave thanks to God for many favors obtained by the intercession of the blessed Virgin and martyr, praying her to continue her protection: on the feast day of the Lord's Nativity she obtained the favor of meditating so inwardly on the great mystery of the Lord's Nativity that she wholly melted in pious tears. This grace of prayer she ascribes, as also the healing of her other ills, to the powerful intercession of our blessed Margaret: whose protection she felt at that same instant in which she carried with her the part of the paper which had touched her relics.
[39] a woman suddenly delivered of a dangerous stone, Maria Hullet of Wavre, sixty-one years of age, in the year 1700, when she was in danger of death from the great and continual torments of the stone, and the physicians and surgeons had been advised to cut out the stone, a thing which in persons advanced in age is not done without great danger; implored the help of our blessed Margaret: for she knew that many people of Wavre had recovered, even suddenly, when they had betaken themselves to the patronage of blessed Margaret of Louvain. With great confidence she chose her help, and sent a woman to Louvain to visit her chapel, and ordered that in honor of blessed Margaret that woman should communicate in the Body of the Lord: and at the same time at which that woman was receiving the most holy Eucharist at Louvain, Maria Hullet was freed at Wavre from the pains of the stone, and passed a great stone without pain, like a small hen's egg, which remains at present to be seen in the chapel: so that the surgeons and physicians wonder how so great and hard a stone, remaining whole, could be passed without pain: which was done in this way suddenly above nature.
[40] another endowed with unhindered walking: On this 12th day of June, before the undersigned witnesses, Joanna Mattyn, born at Hamme, about thirty-four years old, declared, deposing and testifying, that for twenty-two years from her childhood she had walked leaning on two crutches under her arms, as is known to anyone; and that after manifold pious pilgrimages in other places she had not been freed: until at last she directed her religious affection to Margaret of Louvain in her chapel, in which for nine successive days she performed her devotion, reciting there in her honor nine times the Lord's Prayer and the Angelic Salutation: in which time of her nine days' devotion, or novena, she declares that day by day she could walk better and more easily: and when these nine days of devotion were completed, she was entirely healed, and endowed with perfect walking without crutches, as she walks to this day. All these things she declared and testified to be true. So done and attested (she offers herself ready to confirm these things by oath) on the 12th day of June 1704, and she subscribed these. The mark ✠ of Joanna Mattyn. So it is. Peter Marcelis, Doctor of Sacred Theology, before us. Cornelius Cleynaerts. Franc. Helewys.
[41] many others, as also a girl in her death-agony healed: Many other persons, laboring under many grievous troubles, pains of the side and of the head, ordered a living heart to be offered to our blessed Margaret of Louvain, and at once were better. Nay, as many as have implored the help of our blessed Margaret, both clerics and laymen, and persons too of no common note, in whatever ills not only of body but also of soul, and have determined to visit her chapel, and especially to perform the nine days' exercise of devotion by themselves or by another, have found comfort and health, even those in their death-agony who had the blessed candle in their hand: as a girl of Louvain, who as she lay thus with the candle, said: Lord, I see thou wilt not heal me; I have recourse to blessed Margaret of Louvain: and she promised that a little silver boy should be offered, that by the Blessed's merits she might be healed by Jesus Christ: which was also at once done, and she is now in good health.
[42] other benefits also obtained, and unbelievers who relapsed. Those women too who had not the means of living, having poured out prayers to our Bl. Margaret that their husband might be given some employment by which he could earn a living, were helped within a few days. We have known hundreds of persons who here recovered their health. But it is to be observed that some, being so helped, afterwards, at the instigation of evil men, not attributing the help to our blessed Margaret, relapsed. Nay more, the fever from which they were better presently returned, and they at once died: as other pains and troubles came to ungrateful men of this kind. Thus far the Flemish Life, in which the ancient wonders too are reported; but since these are taken from Cæsarius, Molanus and others, we shall go to the sources, and in the annotations to the Acts we shall examine each thing.
§ IV. What and of what sort are the Acts to be given below: the time in which the Blessed lived is inquired into, and other things pertaining to her deeds are discussed.
[ ] The Acts written by Cæsarius, a contemporary. The Acts of Bl. Margaret were briefly written by Cæsarius, monk of Heisterbach near Bonn, of the Cistercian Order, in his Dialogues, of which he composed twelve books, published under the title of Illustrious miracles and memorable histories. That writer had all the helps which were necessary for narrating this history exactly. For he lived at the time in which the thing happened, and indeed, if we believe Angelus Manrique, presently to be praised, he was then prior of the monastery of Villers, which is distant from Louvain only about six Belgian miles. Nor can it be doubted that the monks of Villers diligently inquired into that matter, since the hostess of Bl. Margaret had determined to embrace the monastic life at Villers. Yet Cæsarius did not write his Dialogues at Villers, but in the monastery of Heisterbach, to which, having left the priorate of Villers, he returned in the year 1210, as Manrique thinks in his Cistercian Annals at that same year, chapter 8, num. 1. The same writer at the year 1221, chapter 5, num. 1, proves that the Dialogues were written by Cæsarius in the year 1221, in which he will have them begun; and in the year 1222, in which he affirms they were finished. That Cæsarius wrote in both those years is so clearly proved from his own words that no doubt seems to remain. And so in one or other of those years the Acts of Bl. Margaret were composed, since they are read in the middle of the Work, namely book 6, chapter 34.
[44] Further, as regards the credit to be given to these Acts, a pious and sincere man, to whom in these matters credit must be given: the opinion of all will perhaps not be the same, unless a careful distinction be made among the various things narrated by the same author. For Cæsarius was a man pious and indeed learned, but, for the time in which he lived, simple and credulous: and from this it comes about that his Dialogues are not without certain little narratives which at this time are read as fables. But we shall not judge rightly if we pass altogether the same judgment upon all, because he narrated many things which are not alien from probability, and which he could know exactly, since he was near to them both in place and in time. Therefore, since the suspicion of falsehood does not fall upon Cæsarius, a man certainly pious and sincere; and since in matters so near at hand as those pertaining to Margaret were to him, there is almost no danger of erring, we cannot deny credit in these matters to Cæsarius, and his authority here seems to be preferred to all others who wrote later. For which reason the elogium of our Blessed, which he himself composed, I shall publish in the first place, as to be preferred to the narratives of later writers.
[45] There will follow then a somewhat longer Life, communicated to us formerly from the second part of the Hagiologium of the Brabanters, another Ms. Life composed later. a manuscript in Rouge-Cloître. The author of this Life is unknown to me; but it is clear that he drew the greater part of the Life from Cæsarius, as he himself says in the preface, adding that he inserts a few things which common report has published either by writings or by words. Of the time in which he wrote he nowhere speaks clearly enough. Yet at num. 13 he suggests that he wrote at least a hundred years after the Blessed's slaying, so that it is probable that this Life was composed in the fourteenth or fifteenth century: for at the beginning he says that he will write the passion of Margaret, lately dwelling in the city of Louvain. For although "lately" is here taken for a longer time, as sometimes happens, yet it is not probable that it should be stretched to three centuries, especially since nothing is found in the Life by which you could prove that the writer is later than the fourteenth century. I suspect that this life gave light to Molanus, who agrees with it throughout, unless both drew from the same source, namely from the writings and paintings of the chapel: for these Molanus cites. Those paintings, which are still preserved at Louvain, are indeed believed to be quite ancient, and exhibit almost everything that both this anonymous writer and Molanus narrated. The remaining writers who have treated briefly of Bl. Margaret I shall name in the course of the work, where it shall seem expedient for clearing up the doubts, to the discussion of which I now proceed.
[46] The Blessed suffered not in the year 1225, The first doubt is about the time in which our Blessed was slain. On this Molanus has thus: Who is recorded to have suffered in the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred and twenty-five. This opinion so pleased the people of Louvain that more recent writers of the Flemish Life asserted it as certain, and on that account the city of Louvain celebrated the five-hundredth year of her death in the year 1725. Yet this year of her death is not only not certain, but seems even to be far from the truth. At least Manrique departs far from it in his Cistercian Annals at the year 1203, chapter 6, num. 1, where he has thus: This same time seems to concern the martyrdom or passion of the virgin Margaret: for the martyrdom I would neither deny nor affirm. From Cæsarius, I think, Manrique gathered that approximate year. The Life to be published in the second place has at num. 4 that the thing happened about the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred. Lastly Cæsarius, in chapter 33, relating another deed, had said "a few years ago": and in chapter 34 he says, "about the same times".
[47] [but toward the beginning of the thirteenth century; the day too not altogether certain.] Cæsarius therefore asserts that the death of Bl. Margaret was inflicted a few years before he wrote that part of the Dialogues: and that that part was written in the year 1221 or 1222 I have already observed. From these things it necessarily follows that the death of the Blessed cannot be deferred as far as the year 1225: but it is not equally understood into what year precisely the death fell. For by "a few years", how many years Cæsarius designates cannot be determined. For this cause I have fixed the Blessed's death toward the beginning of the thirteenth century, which can at least be stretched as far as the year 1210 or even 1212. The day of her death I nowhere find assigned among the ancients. No more could Molanus find it, who wrote thus about this matter: The day of the martyrdom is unknown, and for finding it I sought the name of Amandus her host, but did not find it, among the obits of the church of Louvain and of the monastery of Villers, which acknowledges that it holds goods from him. Yet in the Flemish Lives lately printed she is said to have suffered on the 2nd day of September: but I do not know, and much doubt, whether they have a sufficiently firm foundation.
[48] The name of this Virgin is Margareta or Margarita. Her name, surname, native place; condition: The people of Louvain commonly use in the vernacular the diminutive form, and with a surname added they call her Fiere Margaritke: which name in the second Life, num. 3, is rendered in Latin Inclyta Margaretula (Renowned little Margaret). That surname Fiere doubtless arose on account of her chastity freely defended, and was added to Margaret's praise; for the praised biographer attests this in the same place in these words: By a peculiar name she deserved to be called Renowned little Margaret. The French word fier, in use among the Flemish also in the same signification, today for the most part designates haughtiness, pride or arrogance. But sometimes it is also taken in a good sense for a noble disposition inclined to virtue: and so it especially can and ought to be taken when it is said of a girl who suffers nothing at all contrary to chastity. The native place of the Blessed is believed to be Louvain: which, although it is not confirmed by ancient testimony, is nevertheless quite probable, since she dwelt there with her kinsman Amandus. The house of Amandus, which the Blessed also inhabited, was called the hospice of saint George, in which a small chamber keeps its name from her, says Molanus. This house is situated in the street commonly called de Holstraet. The parents of Margaret are nowhere named, and perhaps they were dead when the Girl began to dwell with her kinsman Amandus. Hence it does not follow from that dwelling that Margaret was of the lowest condition: for she is not said to have been a maidservant, but to have served her kinsman in the place of a maidservant, as Amandus's own daughter would have done, if he had had a daughter of that age.
[49] The Cistercian writers assign Margaret to their Order, some will have it that she was a candidate of the Cistercian Order. because they believe that she wished with Amandus and his wife to set out for Villers, that she might enter the Cistercian Order. Yet neither Cæsarius nor the writer of the second Life asserts that about Margaret; but only about Amandus and his wife; so that that purpose of Margaret's of entering religion appears less certain. If, however, Margaret too had determined to profess the Cistercian Order, the matter must be set forth as Henriquez set it forth in the Cistercian Menology, having thus in his annotations: For Amandus, a pious man, a citizen of Louvain, with his wife and the aforesaid virgin Margaret, had arranged to take the Cistercian habit, and to hand themselves over to the direction of blessed William, eleventh abbot of Villers, that he might assign to his wife and to the Virgin a convent of nuns in which they should serve God under the Cistercian institute; and should receive Amandus among the lay brothers of Villers.
[50] Molanus, having given a summary account of Cæsarius, Some have written that she was violated by force: which, to her virginity, subjoins this: But from this narrative of Cæsarius, who perhaps, being settled at Heisterbach, did not know everything so exactly, the paintings and writings of the shrine, in which the little body is kept, differ somewhat. For in them it is read that, after she had vowed her virginity to God, she suffered violence. That violence was done to the Virgin, Miræus, Chalemot and Henriquez also assert. The last, however, having adduced the words of SS. Augustine, Ambrose and Isidore, together with these attributed to St. Lucy, If you shall order me to be violated against my will, my chastity will be doubled unto a crown, shows that she is rightly called Virgin, even if she had certainly suffered that violence. Since this is most certain and undoubted, the words of Augustine will suffice me, in his Letter to Honoratus the bishop, which formerly was the 180th, but in the last edition is the 228th: Because by violence chastity is not violated, if it is kept in the mind: since it is not violated even in the flesh, when the will of the sufferer does not use its own flesh basely; but without consent endures what another does.
[51] [would not stand in the way, even if it were certain: but the ancients do not mention that violence.] St. Thomas agrees, 2. 2, q. 152, a. 1, where he proves that bodily integrity belongs to virginity accidentally: but that the purpose of abstaining perpetually belongs to virginity formally and completively. Whence, he says in the reply to the third, if it happen that in some other way (than by the purpose of the will) the integrity of a member be corrupted by some accident, it prejudices virginity no more than if a hand or a foot were injured. Let these things be said on the supposition: for of that violence done to Margaret neither Cæsarius makes mention, nor the other biographer, who rather seems to be of the contrary opinion at num. 2, as I shall observe there in the annotations. Nay, the more recent writers of the Flemish Life contend that it is not probable, because, they say, God is everywhere read to have defended virgins against violence of this kind. Certainly Molanus neither adduced the words of the writings which he cites; nor did the others who followed have anything beyond that doubtful assertion of Molanus, so that we must leave this matter uncertain.
[52] Cæsarius acknowledges the Blessed's martyrdom; but does not rightly prove it: It may also be asked whether Bl. Margaret is rightly called a martyr: for Manrique doubted about that matter above at num. 46; and the grounds of this title are less manifest. Cæsarius, who had called her a martyr, then in the name of Apollonius, an interlocutor, thus asks: What then was the cause of martyrdom in that Girl? And he subjoins the answer in these words: As I have already said, simplicity and an innocent life. There are different kinds of martyrdom, namely innocence, as in Abel; justice, as in the Prophets and John the Baptist; love of the Law, as in the Maccabees; confession of the faith, as in the Apostles. These things are true, if death be inflicted for the cause of the aforesaid virtues, and be accepted for their sake. Yet I should not believe that the death of Bl. Margaret was inflicted because she had lived innocently: and therefore I do not see that her martyrdom has been sufficiently proved by Cæsarius.
[53] yet the martyrdom can scarcely be doubted, as is proved. The martyrdom would be more rightly proved if it were certain that she was solicited to sin (as that she was solicited is quite probable), and that she was slain because she was unwilling to consent to sin. For in this case she was slain for virginity defended; and she is deservedly named a martyr, whether before death she was violently overpowered, or whether she escaped that violence by the death inflicted. She could also have fallen a martyr because she was unwilling to remain with those robbers, or to do anything for them which she could not do without sin. Hear St. Thomas, 2. 2, q. 124, art. 5: The works of all the virtues, according as they are referred to God, are certain protestations of faith, by which it is made known to us that God requires works of this kind from us, and rewards us for them, and according to this they can be a cause of martyrdom. If all good works can be a cause of martyrdom, as the holy Doctor rightly says, the cause of martyrdom could be not only virginity preserved, but any other good work whatever; or even the refusal of any sin whatever, as St. Thomas adds in the reply to the first. And so it can scarcely be doubted that Margaret attained martyrdom: for since the robbers did not at first kill her, they seem to have wished to preserve her, provided she had complied with their abominable demands. If any further doubt occur in the Acts, it will be weighed in the Annotations.
ACTS
By Cæsarius of Heisterbach From book 6 of his Dialogues, chapter 34.
Margaret, V. & M., at Louvain in Brabant. (B.)
BHL Number: 5320
[Margaret, dwelling at Louvain with her kinsfolk, is carried off when these are slain,] About the same times a, a certain citizen of Louvain with his wife, having ordered their affairs, had arranged to remove to Villers b, a house of our Order. Now both of them were religious, and devout receivers of religious. They had with them a grown Girl, their kinswoman, who in the place of a maidservant ministered, both to them and to their guests, as our lay brothers are witnesses, simply enough and diligently, and the maiden's name was Margaret. Certain malignant men, knowing that they had money gathered, on the very night on which they were to set out in the morning, about eight of them entered their house late, as though about to lodge with them, and sent the said Girl for wine. Meanwhile, killing the master and the mistress, and the whole household found there, and having carried off everything, and leading away with them the Girl who returned with the wine, they entered together a certain house far enough removed from the city.
[2] And when she sat sorrowful, and those who were in the house and then she is slain outside the city: her body cast into the river, judged that she had been carried off by force, they led her to the river. And when one of the robbers pitied her, and one said: Let her live, and I will take her to wife, they did not consent, fearing to be betrayed by her, adding to the portion of one ten marks, that he might kill her. He, taking up the simple Lamb, like a cruel butcher, first cut her throat and then fixed a knife in the side of the dying woman, and so cast into the river a living victim to God. But the hostess of the house which they had entered, following them as they went out secretly, saw what was done.
[3] In the morning, when so execrable a crime became known, the city was thrown into confusion, [then buried on the bank: and at last translated into the city and honored with a chapel:] the robbers were sought, but not found: when the bodies of the slain had been examined, inquiry was made about the Girl, whose body, when some fishermen had found it after some days, and yet had not presumed to disclose it, fearing that the crime would be laid upon them, they buried on the shore c. About whose tomb others, seeing lights by night, dug her up and carried her to Louvain, building a little chapel d over her; and there are wrought unto this day, her merits requiring it, miracles, both in the place of her slaying and in the place of the translation.
[4] The abovesaid master of hers, Amandus by name, with his wife, a great glory of the Virgin is said to have been revealed to a certain man. appearing to a certain monk of Villers, when he asked him about their state, answered: We have not yet full glory. Being asked lastly about the Virgin, he added: Whatever of grace has been bestowed upon us, we have by the merits of Margaret: nor do we dare to look upon the glory in which she is. You see now how much simplicity and innocence of life avail toward martyrdom? All indeed have been slain, but not all shine with miracles. Whence it is plain that it is not the punishment that makes a martyr, but the cause.
ANNOTATIONS.
SECOND ACTS
by an anonymous author, From a Ms. of Rouge-Cloître, collated with another.
Margaret, V. & M., at Louvain in Brabant. (B.)
BHL Number: 5321
By an Anonymous writer.
PREFACE.
The author shows whence he learned what he narrates: a Intending here to insert the lamentable and at the same time brief drama d of the passion of a most worthy virgin foreloved by God and forestalled with the blessings of heavenly sweetness, by name Margaret, lately c dwelling in the city of Louvain in the time of Henry b, duke of the Brabanters, the first of that name, I shall set forth the narrative which I am to follow chiefly according to the account of a venerable man, by name Cæsarius, a Cistercian monk, who in his Dialogue makes mention of the same blessed Virgin, and was her contemporary, inserting a few things which common report has published either by writings or by words e: for what common report reports is not altogether lost.
[2] then he runs on in general Now this Young girl, as can be gathered from what follows, was protected by the shadow of godlike piety from the snares of her enemies, who strove to take from her the precious treasure of chastity f, that she might offer to God, by the purity of virginity and the bitterness of her passion, a holocaust worthy of all acceptance both in life and in death. Wherefore, dearly beloved, let it be allowed to cry out in her praise that word of Canticles VII: Your stature is likened to a palm tree: for she from her childhood, putting on a manly spirit, always strove to advance to better things, and by a good life strengthened others in virtue, as the palm always, while it is raised in growing, spreads and grows strong higher up.
[3] in praise of the Blessed. For although this devout Virgin, after the manner of the palm, had roughness outwardly in the bark of her body, delivering it most cruelly * to death, yet she made sweet fruit, since, rejoicing inwardly in mind, she always kept in herself the support of patience. Whence also she left behind to posterity a sweet fragrance of her name, according to that of Ecclus. XLIX: In every mouth her memory shall be sweetened as honey, and as music at a banquet of wine. For therefore she remains until this day of sweet remembrance among all who have knowledge of her, so that by a peculiar name she deserved to be called the renowned little Margaret. Let us therefore briefly set forth her life and passion, and let us make known how fittingly this name suits her.
ANNOTATIONS.
perhaps atrocissimæ*
CHAPTER I.
The Virgin's dwelling, condition and piety: the slaughter of her kinsfolk, after which she is carried off and slain: the wonders that followed, and the translation of the body.
[ ] While the Virgin piously serves her kinsfolk, and is sent out of the house, About the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred a, a certain citizen of Louvain, a good and honest man, Amandus by name, with his wife, having ordered their affairs, had arranged to remove to the monastery of Villers, which is of the Cistercian Order in Brabant, at that time famous for religion, and there to serve God more zealously. For both of them too were religious, and devout receivers of religious. Now they had with them a certain grown Girl, their kinswoman and relative, who in the place of a maidservant ministered simply enough and diligently both to them and also to the guests whom they were wont frequently to receive. And when they had brought together all that they could have, certain malignant men, knowing that they had money gathered, on the very night on which they were to set out in the morning, about eight of them entered their house late, as though about to lodge with them, and sent the said Girl for wine.
[5] [the robbers butcher the whole household; and carry her off, on her return, outside the city,] Meanwhile, however, they cruelly butchered the host and hostess and the whole household found there, and having carried off everything they could take away, leading away with them the Girl who returned with the wine, they entered together a certain house far enough removed from the city. But while the Girl sat exceedingly sorrowful, since she had seen that she had lost her dearly loved kinsfolk, and had fallen into the hands of robbers, those who dwelt in that house judged that she had been carried off by force. At last the aforesaid ruffians b and robbers, dragging her out of the house, led her to the river named the Dyle c: and when one of them pitied her from a heart of mercy, and promised to his companions and said: Let her live, and I will take her to wife, they did not consent to him, fearing to be betrayed by her, since rather they promised to one of their fellows to add ten marks of silver beyond his share, that he might kill her.
[6] where they slay her near the Dyle, into which they cast her body. And he, taking up the simple Lamb and cruelly seizing the spotless dove, like a cruel executioner, afterwards, her throat being cut, straightway fixed a knife in the side of the dying woman, and so cast a living victim to God into the waters of the Dyle. But the hostess of the house which they had entered, following secretly, saw those things which were done about the Virgin and afterwards made them public. But in the morning, when so execrable a crime became known, the whole city of Louvain was thrown into confusion, and the robbers were sought, but by no means found. And when the bodies of the slain fellow-citizens had been examined, inquiry was made about the Girl: and when at the account of the aforesaid hostess they had learned that she had been cast into the river, with exact diligence they had her searched for.
[7] The body found, with wonders accompanying, But God, who had chosen her beforehand for his bride, did not suffer her to perish, either in this world or in the world to come: nay rather he glorified her after death with many and various miracles. Indeed on the very night on which the aforesaid robbers had wrought so execrable a crime upon the Virgin beloved of God, as is reported (for I do not take upon myself the risk of its truth), the fishes which were in the river, emerging from the deep, bore up the Virgin's sacred body on high, as if it had been becomingly raised by human hands d.
[8] it is carried to Louvain, Meanwhile the duke of Brabant, who with his consort was at that time residing at Louvain, looking out through the window of his very lofty castle e, saw a huge light glowing red over the Dyle for several nights outside the city, in that place, namely, in which she lay cast away. And this brightness was witnessed by the presence of angels, who had been seen and heard there, that by their visitation they might honor God's Martyr. Indeed, when the duke had seen the splendid light and heard the angelic harmony, he presently sent fishermen outside the city to that very place, and, behold, the body of the Virgin appeared upon the waters against the stroke of the river, and turning toward the city: which being learned, the duke, thronged at once with a multitude of courtiers, citizens and clerics, went in procession to meet her, and reverently received the holy treasure divinely granted to him.
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER II.
The wonders which are said to have been done at the translation of the body: the burial, and the chapel built over the body: a revelation about the glory of the Blessed, whose martyrdom is discussed.
[ ] The body exposed to the sight of all grows famous by wonders: There is reported in the common edition a miracle, how the body of the sacred Virgin, received into the city in the aforesaid manner, was presented to the sight of all, and on this account laid against the wall of the church of saint Peter in memory of so great a crime. Which being learned, young men and maidens, old men with the younger, flocked together to that place, and with great wonder beheld the mighty works of God. Now it happened that a certain poor woman made her way there with the rest, who had cooked a broth or pottage a, to carry it to her workmen in the field.
[10] When she beheld so great a gathering of people around the church, she began to wonder greatly: and when she had heard the wonders and miracles which had happened, the pot of a woman who did not believe this boils over without fire, to display the merits of the blessed Virgin, she refused to believe. She said therefore to those who reported it in this manner: As surely as it is true that my pot b, which I have set upon the wall without the fostering of fire, should boil up and bubble; so surely is it true that these miracles have happened which you recount. Presently a miracle greater than the former shone out there before all, so that the vessel which the woman had brought with her cold was made without fire so hot and boiling as though it had about it a fiery pyre.
[11] and it is said to have furnished food for a long time without diminishing: Moreover the broth contained in it, without any diminishing of itself, for the declaring of the Virgin's merits, was made to be shared with all who were present c: which the aforesaid woman then left there out of reverence for so great a miracle. Of which afterwards, for a long time, whoever wished to taste took at pleasure, excepting only those who had descended from the abominable stock of those men who had appointed the most blessed Virgin to so most cruel a death.
[12] The Virgin's murderers punished. Which being learned, one of them, goaded by envy, when he saw that what was at hand for others was not lawful for him, snatched up that pot, and, emptying his belly, foully heaped his filth into it. Whence it came about that so illustrious a benefit thereafter ceased, nor did anyone, as before, share in that miraculous food. Further, the doers of so execrable a slaughter were seized at once after the crime, and, as they deserved, were adjudged to death according to the laws d. Moreover those who came forth of their stock were smitten by God, so that for a hundred years afterwards they were forced to make restitution for the retribution of this deed, and to display a trace or mark of it.
[13] A chapel built over the body: a revelation And so the religious citizens together with the clergy reverently gave the Virgin's body to burial beside the church of saint Peter, and over her they built a gracious chapel, and there are wrought unto this present day, her merits requiring it, divers miracles in that same place, to the praise and glory of the name of Christ. Further, the abovesaid master and kinsman of this Virgin, by name Amandus, with his wife, appearing after death to a certain quite religious monk of Villers, when he was asked by him about their state, plainly answered: We have not yet full glory.
[14] about the glory of Bl. Margaret, whom the author believes And when he was asked about the state of the Virgin, he at once answered, adding in this manner: Whatever of grace has been bestowed upon us, we have from the merits of Margaret: nor do we dare to look upon the glory in which she exults. From which saying it can be considered how much simplicity and innocence of life avail toward martyrdom. All indeed have been slain, but not all shine with miracles. Whence it is plainly evident that it is not the punishment that makes a martyr, but above all the cause.
[15] to be a martyr, But if it be asked what was the cause of martyrdom in that little Maiden; the answer is, as has been said before, that it was simplicity and an innocent life e: for there are different kinds of martyrdom, namely innocence, as in Abel; justice, as in the prophets and John the Baptist; love of the divine law, as in the Maccabees; and confession of the faith, as in the Apostles. For causes of this kind the Lamb, that is, Christ, is said in the Apocalypse to have been slain from the foundation of the world. Let us therefore praise him in this Virgin, and with her let us glorify him, who truly referred her victory and all her glory to him from whom is every best gift and every perfect gift, not attributing to herself what she had received, as again it is said in the Apocalypse, that the Saints cast their crowns before the throne of God.
[16] For to those who purely for God's sake offer their good works, and endowed with heavenly glory. as this blessed Virgin is known to have done, the Lord will repay a good measure, that is, joy without sorrow, and pressed down, that is, fullness without emptiness, and shaken together, that is, firmness without dissolution, and running over, that is, love without dissimulation, limit or ending; which measure, as we firmly believe, the renowned little Margaret now abundantly obtains from her Spouse in heaven, for which she faithfully labored on earth, to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.