the province of Libya, to a city which is said Silene. And by this city
was a stagne or a pond like a sea, wherein was a dragon which envenomed
all the country. And on a time the people were assembled for to slay
him, and when they saw him they fled. And when he came nigh the city he
venomed the people with his breath, and therefore the people of the city
gave to him every day two sheep for to feed him, because he should do no
harm to the people, and when the sheep failed there was taken a man and
a sheep. Then was an ordinance made in the town that there should be
taken the children and young people of them of the town by lot, and
every each one as it fell, were he gentle or poor, should be delivered
when the lot fell on him or her. So it happed that many of them of the
town were then delivered, insomuch that the lot fell upon the king's
daughter, whereof the king was sorry, and said unto the people: For the
love of the gods take gold and silver and all that I have, and let me
have my daughter. They said: How sir! ye have made and ordained the law,
and our children be now dead, and ye would do the contrary. Your
daughter shall be given, or else we shall burn you and your house.
When the king saw he might no more do, he began to weep, and said to
his daughter: Now shall I never see thine espousals. Then returned he to
the people ami demanded eight days' respite, and they granted it to him.
And when the eight days were passed they came to him and said: Thou
seest that the city perisheth: Then did the king do array his daughter
like as she should be wedded, and embraced her, kissed her and gave her
his benediction, and after, led her to the place where the dragon was.
When she was there St. George passed by, and when he saw the lady he
demanded the lady what she made there and she said: Go ye your way fair
young man, that ye perish not also. Then said he: Tell to me what have
and why weep ye, and doubt ye of nothing. When she saw that he would
know, she said to him how she was delivered to the dragon. Then said St.
George: Fair daughter, doubt ye no thing hereof for I shall help thee in
the name of Jesu Christ. She said: For God's sake, good knight, go your
way, and abide not with me, for ye may not deliver me. Thus as they
spake together the dragon appeared and came running to them, and St.
George was upon his horse, and drew out his sword and garnished him with
the sign of the cross, and rode hardily against the dragon which came
toward him, and smote him with his spear and hurt him sore and threw him
to the ground. And after said to the maid: Deliver to me your girdle,
and bind it about the neck of the dragon and be not afeard. When she had
done so the dragon followed her as it had been a meek beast and
debonair. Then she led him into the city, and the people fled by
mountains and valleys, and said: Alas! alas! we shall be all dead. Then
St. George said to them: Ne doubt ye no thing, without more, believe ye
in God, Jesu Christ, and do ye to be baptized and I shall slay the
dragon. Then the king was baptized and all his people, and St. George
slew the dragon and smote off his head, and commanded that he should be
thrown in the fields, and they took four carts with oxen that drew him
out of the city.
Then were there well fifteen thousand men baptized, without women and
children, and the king did do make a church there of our Lady and of St.
George, in the which yet sourdeth a fountain of living water, which
healeth sick people that drink thereof. After this the king offered to
St. George as much money as there might be numbered, but he refused all
and commanded that it should be given to poor people for God's sake; and
enjoined the king four things, that is, that he should have charge of
the churches, and that he should honor the priests and hear their
service diligently, and that he should have pity on the poor people, and
after, kissed the king and departed.
Now it happed that in the time of Diocletian and Maximian, which were
emperors, was so great persecution of Christian men that within a month
were martyred well twenty-two thousand, and therefore they had so great
dread that some renied and forsook God and did sacrifice to the idols.
When St. George saw this, he left the habit of a knight and sold all
that he had, and gave it to the poor, and took the habit of a Christian
man, and went into the middle of the Paynims and began to cry: All the
gods of the Paynims and Gentiles be devils, my God made the heavens and
is very God. Then said the provost to him: Of what presumption cometh
this to thee, that thou sayest that our gods be devils? And say to us
what thou art and what is thy name. He answered anon and said: I am
named George, I am a gentleman, a knight of Cappadocia, and have left
all for to serve the God of heaven. Then the provost enforced himself to
draw him unto his faith by fair words, and when he might not bring him
thereto he did do raise him on a gibbet; and so must beat him with great
staves and broches of iron, that his body was all tobroken in pieces.
And after he did do take brands of iron and join them to his sides, and
his bowels which then appeared he did do frot with salt, and so sent him
into prison, but our Lord appeared to him the same night with great
light and comforted him much sweetly. And by this great consolation he
took to him so good heart that he doubted no torment that they might
make him suffer. Then, when Dacian the provost saw that he might not
surmount him, he called his enchanter and said to him: I see that these
Christian people doubt not our torments. The enchanter bound himself,
upon his head to be smitten off, if he overcame not his crafts. Then he
did take strong venom and meddled it with wine, and made invocation of
the names of his false gods, and gave it to St. George to drink. St.
George took it and made the sign of the cross on it, and anon drank it
without grieving him any thing. Then the enchanter made it more stronger
than it was tofore of venom, and gave it him to drink, and it grieved
him nothing. When the enchanter saw that, he kneeled down at the feet of
St. George and prayed him that he would make him Christian. And when
Dacian knew that he was become Christian he made to smite off his head.
And after, on the morn, he made St. George to be set between two wheels,
which were full of swords, sharp and cutting on both sides, but anon the
wheels were broken and St. George escaped without hurt. And then
commanded Dacian that they should put him in a caldron full of molten
lead, and when St. George entered therein, by the virtue of our Lord it
seemed that he was in a bath well at ease. Then Dacian seeing this began
to assuage his ire, and to flatter him by fair words, and said to him:
George, the patience of our gods is over great unto thee which hast
blasphemed them, and done to them great despite, then fair, and right
sweet son, I pray thee that thou return to our law and make sacrifice to
the idols, and leave thy folly, and I shall enhance thee to great honor
and worship. Then began St. George to smile, and said to him: Wherefore
saidst thou not to me thus at the beginning? I am ready to do as thou
sayest. Then was Dacian glad and made to cry over all the town that all
the people should assemble for to see George make sacrifice which so
much had striven there against. Then was the city arrayed and feast
kept throughout all the town, and all came to the temple for to see him.
When St. George was on his knees, and they supposed that he would have
worshipped the idols, he prayed our Lord God of heaven that he would
destroy the temple and the idol in the honor of his name, for to make
the people to be converted. And anon the fire descended from heaven and
burned the temple, and the idols, and their priests, and sith the earth
opened and swallowed all the cinders and ashes that were left. Then
Dacian made him to be brought tofore him, and said to him: What be the
evil deeds that thou hast done, and also great untruth? Then said to him
St. George: Ah, sir, believe it not, but come with me and see how I
shall sacrifice. Then said Dacian to him: I see well thy fraud and thy
barat, thou wilt make the earth to swallow me, like as thou hast the
temple and my gods. Then said St. George: O caitiff, tell me how may thy
gods help thee when they may not help themselves! Then was Dacian so
angry that he said to his wife: I shall die for anger if I may not
surmount and overcome this man. Then said she to him: Evil and cruel
tyrant! ne seest thou not the great virtue of the Christian people? I
said to thee well that thou shouldst not do to them any harm, for their
God fighteth for them, and know thou well that I will become Christian.
Then was Dacian much abashed and said to her: Wilt thou be Christian?
Then he took her by the hair, and did do beat her cruelly. Then demanded
she of St. George: What may I become because I am not christened? Then
answered the blessed George: Doubt thee nothing, fair daughter, for thou
shalt be baptized in thy blood. Then began she to worship our Lord Jesu
Christ, and so she died and went to heaven. On the morn Dacian gave his
sentence that St. George should be drawn through all the city, and
after, his head should be smitten off. Then made he his prayer to our
Lord that all they that desired any boon might get it of our Lord God in
his name, and a voice came from heaven which said that it which he had
desired was granted; and after he had made his orison his head was
smitten off, about the year of our Lord two hundred and eighty-seven.
When Dacian went homeward from the place where he was beheaded toward
his palace, fire fell down from heaven upon him and burned him and all
his servants.
Gregory of Tours telleth that there were some that bare certain relics
of St. George, and came into a certain oratory in a hospital, and on the
morning when they should depart they could not move the door till they
had left there part of their relics. It is also found in the history of
Antioch, that when the Christian men went oversea to conquer Jerusalem,
that one, a right fair young man, appeared to a priest of the host and
counselled him that he should bear with him a little of the relics of
St. George, for he was conductor of the battle, and so he did so much
that he had some. And when it was so that they had assieged Jerusalem
and durst not mount ne go up on the walls for the quarrels and defence
of the Saracens, they saw appertly St. George which had white arms with
a red cross, that went up tofore them on the walls, and they followed
him, and so was Jerusalem taken by his help. And between Jerusalem and
port Jaffa, by a town called Ramys, is a chapel of St. George which is
now desolate and uncovered, and therein dwell Christian Greeks. And in
the said chapel lieth the body of St. George, but not the head. And
there lie his father and mother and his uncle, not in the chapel but
under the wall of the chapel; and the keepers will not suffer pilgrims
to come therein, but if they pay two ducats, and therefore come but few
therein, but offer without the chapel at an altar. And there is seven
years and seven lents of pardon; and the body of St. George lieth in the
middle of the quire or choir of the said chapel, and in his tomb is an
hole that a man may put in his hand. And when a Saracen, being mad, is
brought thither, and if he put his head in the hole he shall anon be
made perfectly whole, and have his wit again.
This blessed and holy martyr St. George is patron of the realm of
England and the cry of men of war. In the worship of whom is founded the
noble order of the Garter, and also a noble college in the castle of
Windsor by kings of England, in which college is the heart of St.
George, which Sigismund, the emperor of Almayne, brought and gave for a
great and a precious relic to King Harry the Fifth.
THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK
St. Patrick was born in Britain, which is called England, and was
learned at Rome and there flourished in virtues; and after departed out
of the parts of Italy, where he had long dwelled, and came home into his
country in Wales named Pendyac, and entered into a fair and joyous
country called the valley Rosine. To whom the angel of God appeared and
said: O Patrick, this see ne bishopric God hath not provided to thee,
but unto one not yet born, but shall thirty years hereafter be born, and
so he left that country and sailed over into Ireland. And as Higden
saith in Polycronicon the fourth book, the twenty-fourth chapter, that
St. Patrick's father was named Caprum, which was a priest and a deacon's
son which was called Fodum. And St. Patrick's mother was named
Conchessa, Martin's sister of France. In his baptism he was named
Sucate, and St. Germain called him Magonius, and Celestinus the pope
named him Patrick. That is as much to say as father of the citizens.
St. Patrick on a day as he preached a sermon of the patience and
sufferance of the passion of our Lord Jesu Christ to the king of the
country, he leaned upon his crook or cross, and it happed by adventure
that he set the end of the crook, or his staff, upon the king's foot,
and pierced his foot with the pike, which was sharp beneath. The king
had supposed that St. Patrick had done it wittingly, for to move him the
sooner to patience and to the faith of God, but when St. Patrick
perceived it he was much abashed, and by his prayers he healed the king.
And furthermore he impetred and gat grace of our Lord that no venomous
beast might live in all the country, and yet unto this day is no
venomous beast in all Ireland.
After it happed on a time that a man of that country stole a sheep,
which belonged to his neighbor, whereupon St. Patrick admonested the
people that whomsoever had taken it should deliver it again within seven
days. When all the people were assembled within the church, and the man
which had stolen it made no semblant to render ne deliver again this
sheep, then St. Patrick commanded, by the virtue of God, that the sheep
should bleat and cry in the belly of him that had eaten it, and so
happed it that, in the presence of all the people, the sheep cried and
bleated in the belly of him that had stolen it. And the man that was
culpable repented him of his trespass, and the others from then forthon
kept them from stealing of sheep from any other man.
Also St. Patrick was wont for to worship and do reverence unto all the
crosses devoutly that he might see, but on a time tofore the sepulchre
of a Paynim stood a fair cross, which he passed and went forth by as he
had not seen it, and he was demanded of his fellows why he saw not that
cross. And then he prayed to God he said for to know whose it was, and
he said he heard a voice under the earth saying: Thou sawest it not
because I am a Paynim that am buried here, and am unworthy that the sign
of the cross should stand there, wherefore he made the sign of the cross
to be taken thence. On a time as St. Patrick preached in Ireland the
faith of Jesu Christ, and did but little profit by his predication, for
he could not convert the evil, rude and wild people, he prayed to our
Lord Jesu Christ that he would show them some sign openly, fearful and
ghastful, by which they might be converted and be repentant of their
sins. Then, by the commandment of God, St. Patrick made in the earth a
great circle with his staff, and anon the earth after the quantity of
the circle opened and there appeared a great pit and a deep, and St.
Patrick by the revelation of God understood that there was a place of
purgatory, in to which whomsoever entered therein he should never have
other penance ne feel none other pain, and there was showed to him that
many should enter which should never return ne come again. And they that
should return should abide but from one morn to another, and no more,
and many entered that came not again. As touching this pit or hole which
is named St. Patrick's purgatory, some hold opinion that the second
Patrick, which was an abbot and no bishop, that God showed to him this
place of purgatory; but certainly such a place there is in Ireland
wherein many men have been, and yet daily go in and come again, and some
have had there marvellous visions and seen grisly and horrible pains, of
whom there be books made as of Tundale and others. Then this holy man
St. Patrick, the bishop, lived till he was one hundred and twenty-two
years old, and was the first that was bishop in Ireland, and died in
Aurelius Ambrose's time that was king of Britain. In his time was the
Abbot Columba, otherwise named Colinkillus, and St. Bride whom St.
Patrick professed and veiled, and she over-lived him forty years. All
these three holy saints were buried in Ulster, in the city of Dunence,
as it were in a cave with three chambers. Their bodies were found at the
first coming of King John, King Harry the second's son, into Ireland.
Upon whose tombs these verses following were written: Hic jacent in Duno
qui tumulo tumulantur in uno, Brigida, Patricius atque Columba pius,
which is for to say in English: In Duno these three be buried all in one
sepulchre: Bride, Patrick, and Columba the mild.
Men say that this holy bishop, St. Patrick, did three great things. One
is that he drove with his staff all the venomous beasts out of Ireland.
The second, that he had grant of our Lord God that none Irish man shall
abide the coming of Antichrist. The third wonder is read of his
purgatory, which is more referred to the less St. Patrick, the Abbot.
And this holy abbot, because he found the people of that land rebel, he
went out of Ireland and came in to England in the Abbey of Glastonbury,
where he died on a St. Bartholomew's day. He flourished about the year
of our Lord eight hundred and fifty.
OF SAINT FRANCIS
HOW HE RECEIVED THE COUNSEL OF ST. CLARE AND OF BROTHER SILVESTER, AND
HOW HE PREACHED UNTO THE BIRDS
The humble servant of Christ, St. Francis, a short while after his
conversion, having already gathered together many companions and
received them into the order, fell into deep thought and much doubting
as to what he ought to do: whether to give himself wholly unto prayer,
or some time also unto preaching: and on this matter he much desired to
learn the will of God. And for that the holy humility that was in him
suffered him not to trust over much in himself nor in his own prayers,
he thought to search out the will of God through the prayers of others:
wherefore he called Brother Masseo, and bespake him thus: "Go unto
Sister Clare and tell her on my behalf, that she with certain of her
most spiritual companions, should pray devoutly unto God, that it may
please Him to show me which of the twain is the better: whether to give
myself to preaching or wholly unto prayer. And then go unto Brother
Silvester and tell the like to him." This was that Brother Silvester who
when he was in the world had seen a cross of gold proceeding from the
mouth of St. Francis, the which reached even unto heaven and the arms
thereof unto the ends of the world, and this Brother Silvester was of
so great devotion and so great sanctity, that whatsoe'er he asked of God
was granted him, and oftentimes he spake with God; wherefore St. Francis
had a great devotion unto him.
So Brother Masseo departed, and according to the bidding of St. Francis
carried his message first unto St. Clare and then unto Brother
Silvester. Who, when he had heard thereof, forthwith fell on his knees
in prayer, and as he prayed received answer from God, and turned to
Brother Masseo, and bespake him thus: "Thus saith the Lord: Say unto
Brother Francis that God has not called him to this estate for himself
alone, but to the end that he may gain fruit of souls, and that many
through him may be saved." With this reply Brother Masseo returned to
St. Clare to learn what she had received of God, and she answered that
God had sent to her and her companions the same reply as He had given to
Brother Silvester. Whereat Brother Masseo hied him back again to St.
Francis; and St. Francis received him with exceeding great love, washing
his feet and making ready for him the meal, and after he had eaten, St.
Francis called Brother Masseo into the wood; and there kneeled down
before him and drew back his hood, stretching out his arms in the shape
of a cross, and asked him: "What has my Lord Jesu Christ commanded that
I should do?" Replied Brother Masseo: "As unto Brother Silvester, so
likewise unto Sister Clare and her sisters, has Christ made answer and
revealed: that it is His will that thou go throughout the world to
preach, since He hath chosen thee not for thyself alone, but also for
the salvation of others." And then St. Francis, when he had heard this
answer and known thereby the will of Jesu Christ, rose up with fervor
exceeding great, and said: "Let us be going in the name of God"; and he
took for his companions Brother Masseo and Brother Agnolo, holy men. And
setting forth with fervent zeal of spirit, taking no thought for road or
way, they came unto a little town that was called Savurniano, and St.
Francis set himself to preach, but first he bade the swallows that were
twittering keep silence till such time as he had done the preaching; and
the swallows were obedient to his word, and he preached there with such
fervor that all the men and women of that town minded through their
devotion to come after him and leave the town, but St. Francis suffered
them not, saying: "Make not ill haste nor leave your homes; and I will
ordain for you what ye should do for the salvation of your souls": and
therewith he resolved to found the third Order, for the salvation of all
the world.
And so leaving them much comforted and with minds firm set on penitence,
he departed thence and came unto a place between Cannaio and Bevagno.
And as with great fervor he was going on the way, he lifted up his eyes
and beheld some trees hard by the road whereon sat a great company of
birds well-nigh without number; whereat St. Francis marvelled, and said
to his companions: "Ye shall wait for me here upon the way and I will go
to preach unto my little sisters, the birds." And he went unto the
field and began to preach unto the birds that were on the ground; and
immediately those that were on the trees flew down to him, and they all
of them remained still and quiet together, until St. Francis made an end
of preaching: and not even then did they depart, until he had given them
his blessing. And according to what Brother Masseo afterward related
unto Robert Jacques da Massa, St. Francis went among them touching them
with his cloak, howbeit none moved from out his place. The sermon that
St. Francis preached unto them was after this fashion: "My little
sisters, the birds, much bounden are ye unto God, your Creator, and
always in every place ought ye to praise Him, for that He hath given you
liberty to fly about everywhere, and hath also given you double and
triple raiment; moreover, He preserved your seed in the ark of Noah,
that your race might not perish out of the world; still more are ye
beholden to Him for the element of the air which he had appointed for
you; beyond all this, ye sow not, neither do you reap; and God feedeth
you, and giveth you the streams and fountains for your drink; the
mountains and the valleys for your refuge and the high trees whereon to
make your nests; and because ye know not how to spin or sew, God
clotheth you, you and your children; wherefore your Creator loveth you
much, seeing that He hath bestowed on you so many benefits; and
therefore, my little sisters, beware of the sin of ingratitude, and
study always to give praises unto God." Whenas St. Francis spake these
words to them, those birds began all of them to open their beaks, and
stretch their necks, and spread their wings, and reverently bend their
heads down to the ground, and by their acts and by their songs to show
that the holy Father gave them joy exceeding great. And St. Francis
rejoiced with them, and was glad, and marvelled much at so great a
company of birds and their most beautiful diversity and their good heed
and sweet friendliness, for the which cause he devoutly praised their
Creator in them. At the last, having ended the preaching, St. Francis
made over them the sign of the cross, and gave them leave to go away;
and thereby all the birds with wondrous singing rose up in the air; and
then, in the fashion of the cross that St. Francis had made over them,
divided themselves into four parts; and the one part flew toward the
East, and the other toward the West, and the other toward the South, and
the fourth toward the North, and each flight went on its way singing
wondrous songs; signifying thereby that even as St. Francis, the
standard-bearer of the Cross of Christ, had preached unto them, and made
over them the sign of the cross, after the pattern of which they
separated themselves unto the four parts of the world: even so the
preaching of the Cross of Christ, renewed by St. Francis, would be
carried by him and the brothers throughout the world; the which
brothers, after the fashion of the birds, possessing nothing of their
own in this world, commit their lives wholly unto the providence of God.
HOW ST. FRANCIS CONVERTED THE FIERCE WOLF OF AGOBIO