and on a white horse, with an imperial crown on her head, and a spear in her hand, she went forth at the head of an army from the city of Siclitana against the Moors; in that form her Image was afterwards worshipped there in remembrance of her victory, and the spot was visited as sacred, where, when she alighted from her horse, the mark of her foot was miraculously impressed.* None of the Grecian gods took so active a part at the siege of Troy, as she did in the recovery of Spain from the Moors, When the musselmen attempted to recover Zaragoza by surprize during the night, her image stood in the gateway, sword in hand, and maintained the entrance against them till the alarm spread, and the Christians hastening to the spot, defeated the already dismayed unbelievers. That very image was venerated in Zaragoza centuries afterwards by the name of N. Señora del Portillo, from the portal which had been the scene of her achievements.† By her aid it was that King St. Ferdinand put the Moors to flight so often, and conquered the city of Seville: she instructed him how to destroy the engines of the enemy; and the pious king, ascribing the conquest to her as was her * Andrade, 574. P. Paulo Castellati quoted.. † Ib. 566. due, placed her image upon a car that she might enter the city in triumph, and accompanied it in procession that joyful day to the great mosque, which was then consecrated to her name, and where at this time that same image is venerated and adored. When Rhodes was defended against the great Turk Mahommed, the Virgin stood upon the walls, with St. John the Baptist for her companion in arms, both armed with breastplates, having morions on their heads, and wielding each a spear; and such havoc did they make among the Turks, smiting them down as fast as they mounted in the escalade, that the few who survived that disastrous assault raised the siege in dismay. Her image vanished from its Church at Einsiedeln and *Acta Vita S. Ferdinandi Regis. Antverpiæ. 1684. p. 189. 191. † Andrade, 569. Funes Chron. del Orden de S. Juan quoted. This I suppose to be the sumptuous Temple of N. Señora de el Yermo which Andrade speaks of. He adds, upon the authority of Surius, that after the body of Zuinglius was burnt, the heretics carefully collected his ashes, placed them upon an altar and worshipped them. (p. 517.) The truth is, that his heart, which remained unconsumed, was taken away by Thomas Plater (one of his friends), and Myconius, who was also his friend, threw it into the Rhine, lest it should become an object of superstitious veneration to a people hardly weaned from the errors in which they had been trained up.-Ebel. t. ii. 349. appeared at the head of the believers in that battle wherein Zuinglius and all his followers fell, not a heretic escaping unhurt to bear the news of their utter overthrow.* And on a former occasion, when the Church was in no less danger, and St. Basil prayed to her for help, he saw the image to which his prayers were addressed change colour, and speak to that of the martyr St. Mercurius, which stood near; Mercurius immediately disappeared; presently he returned, the spear which he carried in his hand was red and reeking with blood, and it was afterwards ascertained, that at that very hour the Apostate Julian had received his mortal wound from an unseen hand.† It is not of Pallas or Bellona, Sir, that these things are related, but of Mary the mother of Jesus! They are told not as the fictions of poets, but in history, in Missionary reports, and in books of popular devotion, by priests, monks, friars, jesuits, and inquisitors. They are gravely related as truths to be believed for edification. Altars have been erected, and chapels endowed for the images concerning which such legends have been forged; and some of these images are worshipped at this day, for the miracles which they are thus said to have performed. Yet, Sir, you have called it calumny to accuse a Church of superstition, in which such things are believed; and a clergy of imposture, by whom they were invented, and by whom the people are taught to believe them! These are instances of vengeance upon the enemies of the faith in general; but the heathen goddesses have not shown themselves more terribly vindictive in cases of personal offence, than the all-seeing and all-powerful Virgin of the Romish mythology. A powerful baron, who had possessed himself of the town of Mans, refused at the bishop's prayer to restore the domains of the church, and despised his censures, as he had done his intreaties. The Virgin punished the offender first with a sharp illness, which had not the effect of awakening him to a sense of his guilt. She then came in person to his bed-side, and with a hammer knocked him on the head. The apparition and the blow brought him to his senses, instead of frightening him out of them: he repented, made restitution, and was absolved; and bore a scar on his forehead as long as he lived.* A certain Prince William of Burgundy was more severely * Andrade, 544. Surius in Vita S. Domueli quoted. punished. He had deprived one of her convents of the estates with which his ancestors had endowed it; her service was neglected in consequence, the revenues which should have supported it being thus cut off, and a monk heard her say she would leave the place. He ventured to ask, whither she would go, and she replied, "to my Son, that I may complain of this William who will not let me rest!" Shortly afterwards, William and his wife and children were intercepted by their enemies, thrown down a precipice, and dashed to pieces.* The Bavarian Prince Arnold for a like offence was carried off by the Devil bodily, in broad day, and dropped into a lake, before his own castle, in sight of a great multitude of people; nor could his body ever be found.† And a Genevan preacher, who was holding forth against her worship, was taken out of the pulpit by the Devil, before the whole congregation, and carried away through the air, body and soul, to hell, there to be everlastingly tormented.‡ What was the wrath of Diana, or of Juno, compared to this? To complete this part of the character *Andrade, 544. Cæsarius, 1. vii. c. vii. + Ib. Trithemius quoted. Ib. 523. This happened in the year 1594, in the sight of innumerable persons, whereof some were converted! |