_A remarkable instance of a flagellation performed in honour of the
Virgin Mary._
So well established was the opinion that Saints, and especially
the Virgin Mary, were to be appeased by flagellations, and such
was, in general, the fondness of people during a certain period of
time, for that pious mode of correction, that a Franciscan Monk,
who wore a hood, and was girt with a cord, did not scruple, under
the Pontificate of Sixtus IV, to expose to the open day, in the
public market-place, the bare rump of a Professor in Divinity,
and lashed him with his hand, in sight of a croud of astonished
spectators, because he had preached against the immaculate conception
of the blessed Virgin. The fact is related in a Sermon written by
Bernardinus _de Bustis_, which, together with his whole Work in
honour of the Virgin (_Opus Mariale_) he dedicated to Pope Alexander
VI, and seems therefore to be a fact well enough authenticated: the
following is the manner in which Bernardinus gives the account.
‘He laid hold of him, and threw him upon his knees; for he was
very strong. Having then taken up his gown; because this Minister
had spoken against the holy _Tabernacle_ of God, he began to lash
him with the palm of his hand upon his huge breech, (the Author’s
expression is, upon his _square tabernacles_) which was bare; for
he wore neither drawers nor breeches: and because he had attempted
to slander the blessed Virgin, by quoting perhaps Aristotle in the
book of _Priors_, this Preacher confuted him by reading in the book
of his Posteriors; which greatly diverted the Bystanders. Then a
certain female Devotee exclaimed, saying, Mr. Preacher, give him four
more slaps for my sake: another presently after said, Give him also
four more for me; and so did a number of others: so that if he had
attempted to grant all their requests, he would have had nothing else
to do for the whole day[109].’
Nay, so proper did Bernardinus de Bustis think the above correction
to have been, so well calculated did he judge it, to appease the holy
Virgin’s wrath, that he did not scruple to declare, in the sequel
of his Sermon, that the Monk who inflicted it, had possibly been
actuated by an inspiration from the Virgin herself. ‘Perhaps (says
he) was it the Virgin herself, who induced him so to do, moreover
granting him an exemption from the censures incurred, according to
the Laws of the Church, by those who strike an Ecclesiastic, and
relaxing the rigour of these laws in his favour[110].’
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