MIRACLES PERFORMED BY IMAGES
Since the image of the Virgin was intended to be a representation of the
Divine Mother, it often, especially in the mind of the peasant,
attracted to itself all her attributes. The result was that in a number
of cases it was the image and not the Virgin that performed the deed.
Often, also when the miracle was attributed to Santa María it was not
simply to the saint, Mary the mother of Jesus, who lived in the distant
past, far away in the Holy Land, nor to Mary, the most powerful of all
the saints in heaven, but it was to the very present, and very local
saint, Santa María de Salas, or Santa María del Puerto, as the case
might be. There is little doubt that in the mind of the common folk
there were as many different Saints Mary as there were shrines, and yet,
at the same time, these all had a definite connection with the Mother of
Christ in some mysterious way which the plain people did not trouble
themselves to explain. Just as the mystery of the Trinity did not
perturb them nearly as much as it did the Anglo-Saxons of the North, so
this particular problem caused them little concern.
As might be expected, most of the miracles attributed to the image of
the Virgin are of the same nature as those performed by the saint
herself. The image cures the diseased (No. 349), it bows over a man and
thanks him for a hymn of praise he has composed (No. 202), saves a
naughty child from punishment (No. 303), protects a man’s property from
threatened storm (No. 161), restores to health queen Beatriz, mother of
Alfonso el Sabio, when the doctors had pronounced her illness incurable
(No. 256), restrains a rich libertine knight of Catalonia from
committing an immoral act in its presence (No. 312), protects a city
from capture by the Moors even after the latter had learned from a
prisoner that there were but fifteen men remaining to defend it (No.
185), protects its altar from fire by removing a veil from its head and
spreading it over the fire, thereby instantly extinguishing the flames
(No. 332), and lastly even pours milk from its sacred breasts as a final
argument to convince and convert a Moor (No. 44). The story of No. 321
differs somewhat from this, reminding us of a similar cure attributed to
the Child Jesus while on the flight into Egypt.[58] A child was
suffering from a swelling in the neck and was pronounced incurable. A
friend advised that the patient be taken to the king, adding that all
Christian kings had the power of healing. This was done, but the king
told them to take it before the image of the Virgin, wash the image in
pure water, and then give the child this water to drink for as many days
as there are letters in the name _M-a-r-í-a_. On the fourth day the
child was healed. In two instances the power is extended a little
farther and in No. 123 a young friar on dying turned black and ugly. His
brethren took a candle from the altar and put it in his hand, which
caused his natural color to be restored. Later he returned and appearing
to the two friars told them that the reason he became black at death was
that he saw Devils, but that the light of the Virgin drove them promptly
away. In No. 209 Alfonso was very ill and when the doctors could not
give him relief he called for the unfinished manuscript[59] of _Las
Cantigas_ and by applying it to the affected part of his body he was
healed.
Because of the very high esteem in which the Virgin was held it is
common to find instances in which a person swears by her or by her name
or image, while she on her part is rightly conscientious in seeing that
such oaths are not taken lightly. One young shepherd developed the habit
of stealing and was finally caught, but cleared himself by swearing by
God _and the Virgin_ that he was innocent. A little later he was caught
again, and convicted. This time the Virgin allowed him to be hanged,
because he had sworn by her falsely (No. 392). Another man (No. 239)
perjured himself before her image by adjuring that he had never received
a certain article in trust. Even before leaving the church he was
overtaken by a severe illness which caused his death within three days.
So high and so sacred was this oath before the image of the Virgin held
to be, that in one instance a wife, being accused of unfaithfulness by
her jealous husband, offered to submit to the ordeal by fire to prove
her innocence, but her husband demanded instead that she swear before
the altar of Nuestra Señora. Then he added that she could further clear
herself by jumping from a high rock. She passed both tests safely and
her husband, penitent, begged forgiveness on his knees (No. 341). In
other cases the image of the Virgin _speaks_, as, for example, when
called upon to bear witness in a difference between a Jew and a
Christian over the payment of a debt (No. 25).
The very name of María was one to conjure with.[60] Two miracles (Nos.
194 and 254) are attributed to the power of the mere sound of the name;
and once (No. 195) a girl is saved because her name is María. In No. 194
a villainous host sends in pursuit of his departing guests some thugs to
rob them, but the bandits, on hearing their intended victims call on the
name of Santa María for help, become powerless and speechless. In No.
254, the image of the Virgin saves some monks who, while recuperating on
the banks of a river from the rigors of convent life, transgress the
bounds of what is proper for men of their order. Seeing some devils in
the form of men, coming down the river in a boat, the monks, terrified,
call on the Virgin for aid. “She alone has saved you,” shout the devils
as they continue on their way. A girl (No. 195) who had been sold by her
father to a knight on his way to a tournament was saved from harm when
she told him her name was Mary and that that particular day was one
especially consecrated to the Saint’s worship. On learning that, the
knight sent her for safekeeping to an abbey, while he continued on his
journey. At the tournament he was killed and buried in the open
prairie.[61] The Virgin appeared to the girl and told her of his fate
demanding that she and the abbess go and give the man a worthy burial,
telling them they would be able easily to identify the body, for it
would have a rose in its mouth.
* * * * *
There now remains a group of fifteen poems that do not seem to have any
particular purpose other than to produce an atmosphere of mystery; but
this very sentiment of the mystical played an important part in the
religious worship of the time. The very architecture of the churches
tended to produce it, the processions, the ritual, all inspired the same
feeling. Herewith are summarized only four poems of this group, which
will give a sufficient idea of the emotions aroused by them.
A young girl, a religious fanatic, died very early in life as the
result of self-imposed hardships. Her parents, suspecting poison,
ordered an autopsy, and on the heart of the dead girl was found an image
of the Virgin (No. 188). In No. 361, Alfonso is said to have given a
beautiful image of the Virgin to the monastery of Las Huelgas de Burgos.
On Christmas night the strange idea of putting the image to bed occurred
to the pious nuns. Almost immediately they saw it change color and turn
from side to side. No. 79, of the codex of Toledo (a poem which does not
appear in the codex of the Escorial), relates an incident that took
place weekly in the church at Constantinople. In this church was a
beautiful image of the Holy Mother, covered with a veil. Every Friday an
angel descended from heaven to lift the veil, which remained suspended
in the air until Saturday evening, (the day on which the faithful came
to worship), when the angel would return and lower the veil again.
Cantiga No. 226 narrates a legend entirely foreign to Spanish thought
and one which must have caused some surprise in its unwonted
environment. The incident is said to have happened in “Gran Britaña”.
The account runs briefly as follows: A company of friars were in their
convent saying Mass on Easter morning, when the entire monastery was
swallowed up by the earth--the ground closing above it and leaving no
trace whatever. For just a year the monks continued in this enforced
seclusion, without lack of anything needful; they were even lighted by a
marvellous sun. On the next Easter morning all was restored to its
former natural state. It can be seen at a glance that this legend is
entirely different from anything that has been mentioned in this
collection; and I have found no parallel to it in anything else of the
period.
In closing this chapter attention should be called to two miracles which
emphasize the great importance attached to confession.[62] No. 124 is
the story of a man condemned to be stoned because he had broken a law of
the Moors in whose land he was living. While undergoing this punishment,
he begged permission of the Virgin to make his confession; from that
moment his executioners could not harm him. Astonished that their
missiles suddenly ceased to have any effect they allowed him to confess,
after which he died praising the Blessed Mother. In No. 96 a sinner was
unwilling to do penance, altho devoted to Santa María. He was beheaded
by robbers, without opportunity for confession. Four days later two
friars, on arriving at the spot, were surprised to hear the head plead
for the privilege of confession. They summoned a crowd; the head
attached itself to the body, confessed, and then became separated again
from the body.[63]