marked with wounds in his hands and feet and side, resembling those of the crucified Saviour-and that angels inflicted such marks as a token of Divine favour a wide door was open to credulity and imposture. As for the founder of the Franciscans, whose case is the most memorable, we believe that he was frenzied, and really did wound himself; for we are unwilling to think that he was an impostor; though it is remarkable that the alleged wounds, which used to bleed so copiously in his lifetime, left no trace after his death. This his followers impute to a miracle; but it seems rather to imply a trick, if it be not itself a lying legend. It is afflicting to write of such matters; for what Christian can think without shame and sorrow of the awful scene of Calvary being made a stage for juggling tricks; and though we do not confound phrenzied persons with conscious impostors, both have been the instruments of much mischief to the Christian faith. We will now extract sufficient from Mr. Aldworth's little book, to enable our readers to judge whether we have written too strongly. His historical facts apply by anticipation to the Youghal case: "The appearances are as nearly as possible similar in the Youghal miracles and in those adduced and vouched for by your Lordship in the Tyrol. The ecstacies the marks-the attitudes-the pretended unconsciousness to surrounding objects the consciousness of the voice of the church-the abstinence-the periods of the manifestations-the regard to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass-the clique of priests, monks, or friars surrounding the unhappy subjects-the caution observed as to admission-the evident attempts at effect in the exhibition, varying in success according to the frame and character of the visitants-the number of the subjects-and the similarity of phases in the appearances as distinguishing them one from the other the report of rhapsody, of being caught up into the air, but witnessed by no one here except Father Foley, are sufficient points of resemblance to connect these cases with the Tyrolese Virgins in close assimilation, and place them on the same foundation." "But your Lordship has specified other besides living instances of Raptures, Estatics, and Stigmata; and has referred, among several, to St. Francis of Assisium, St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Philip Neri, St. Dominick of benevolent and merciful memory, and St. Veronica Giuliani. Of miraculous passages in the lives of some of these, I happen to possess notices; to which I beg to direct atOF ROMISH ACCREDITED MIRACLES. St. Veronica, being I believe the latest instance of the Canonization of a subject of the Stigmata, demands notice. Her life is published by Dolman, London, 1839, together with that of four other Saints, Canonized Trinity Sunday, 1839. This work is attributed to Dr. Wiseman, and not without reason, if circumstantial evidence is to have its weight. After narrating the imprinting of the Stigmata, her biographer goes on to say, (page 262). tention, as EXHIBITING THE CHARACTER “The Tribunal of the Holy Office at Rome, having received information thereof, ordered the Bishop of the City to make an enquiry into the truth of the report. He repaired to the grate of the Convent, with several other Ecclesiastics, who se verally saw the wounds which her blessed Spouse had made. Those in the hands and feet, as Florida Ceoli, and other sisters attest, were on the upper side round, and about the size of a farthing, but less on the under side, deep and red when open, and covered with a thin cicatrix or crust when closed,' &c. &c. 66 for This inspection at the grate of the Convent, and testimony of Florida Ceoli and other sisters, is a specimen of the searching investigation to which Romish miracles are subjected. It is true she reported to her Confessor that her beloved Saviour, contrary to her request, caused those wounds to remain open three years: but during that period, all the additional evidence we possess is, that it was 'Proved to many that they were indeed the work of Divine Love.' Her Confessor afterwards, it is asserted, saw them open before his feet: and a new Confessor, appointed specially by the Bishop to test her case, put her to rather a singular trial. He formed five Commands entirely in his own mind, which being purely mental, could not be discovered by the devil, but only to Almighty God. These Commands he desired her to repeat to him-and after prayer without success, at length she did it. These commands regarded the renewal of her wounds, and the wounds were renewed; and truly to those who disbelieve in the possibility of collusion After narrating some other equally melancholy transactions, Mr. Aldworth adds: 66 Enough, and more than enough, of Romish accredited miracles and Canonized Saints. Detected impostures next demand a passing notice. "Jetzer, the lay-brother, in the Convent of the Dominicans in Bern, shall furnish an appropriate instance. The narrative I extract from Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, Vol. II. p. 5. 666 him, that nothing but the most extratorment. Upon this the impostor told ordinary mortifications, such as the discipline of the whip, performed during eight days by the whole monastery, and Jetzer's lying prostrate in the form of one crucified in the chapel during mass, could contribute to his deliverance. He added, that the performance of these mortifications would draw down upon Jetzer the peculiar protection of the Blessed Virgin; and concluded by saying, that he would appear to him again, accompanied by two other spirits. Morning was no sooner come, than Jetzer gave an account of this apparition to the rest of the convent, who all unanimously advised him to undergo the discipline that was enjoined him; and every one consented to bear his share of the task imposed. The deluded simpleton obeyed, and was admired as a saint by the multitudes that crowded about the convent, while the four friars that managed the imposture, magnified, in the most pompous manner, the miracle of this apparition, in their sermons and in their discourse. The night after, the apparition was renewed with the addition of two impostors, dressed like devils, and Jetzer's faith was augmented by hearing from the spectre all the secrets of his life and thoughts, which the impostors had learned from his confessor. În this, and some subsequent scenes, (the detail of whose enormities, for the sake of brevity, we shall here omit) the impostor talked much to Jetzer of the Dominican order, which he said was peculiarly dear to the Blessed Virgin; he added, that the Virgin knew herself to be conceived in Original Sin ; that the doctors who taught the contrary were in Purgatory; that the Blessed Virgin abhorred the Franciscans for making her equal with her Son; and that the town of Berne would be destroyed for harbouring such plagues within her walls. In one of these apparitions, Jetzer imagined that the voice of the spectre resembled that of the prior of the convent, and he was not mistaken: but, not suspecting a fraud, he gave little attention to this. The prior appeared in various forms, sometimes in that of St. Barbara, at others in that of St. Bernard; at length he assumed that of the Virgin Mary, and, for that purpose, clothed himself in the habits that were employed to adorn the statue of the Virgin in the great festivals; the little images, that on these days are set on the altars, were made use of for angels, which being tied to a cord that passed through a pulley over Jetzer's head, rose up and down, and danced about the pretended virgin to increase the delusion. The virgin thus "The stratagem in question was the "This story, accompanied by horrible equipped, addressed a long discourse to Jetzer, in which, among other things, she told him that she was conceived in Original Sin, though she had remained but a short time under that blemish. She gave him, as a miraculous proof of her presence, a host, or consecrated wafer, which turned from white to red in a moment; and after various visits, in which the greatest enormities were transacted, the virgin prior told Jetzer, that she would give him the most affecting and undoubted marks of her Son's love, by imprinting on him the FIVE WOUNDS that pierced Jesus on the Cross, as she had done before to St. Lucia and St. Catherine.Accordingly, she took his hand by force, and struck a large nail through it, which threw the poor dupe into the greatest torment.-The next night this masculine virgin brought, as she pretended, some of the linen in which Christ had been buried, to soften the wound, and gave Jetzer a soporific draught, which had in it the blood of an unbaptised child, some grains of incense and of consecrated salt, some quicksilver, the hairs of the eye-brows of a child, all of which, with some stupifying and poisonous ingredients, were mingled together by the prior with magic ceremonies, and a solemn dedication of himself to the devil, in the hope of his succour. This draught threw the poor wretch into a sort of lethargy, during which the monks imprinted on his body the other four wounds of Christ in such a manner, that he felt no pain. When he awakened, he found to his unspeakable joy these impressions on his body, and came at last to fancy himself a representative of Christ, in the various parts of his passion. He was in this state exposed to the admiring multitude on the principal altar of the convent, to the great mortification of the Franciscans. The Dominicans gave him some other draughts that threw him into convulsions, which were followed by a voice conveyed through a pipe into the mouths of two images, one of • Mary and another of the child Jesus; the former of which had tears painted upon his cheeks in a lively manner. The little Jesus asked his mother, by means of this voice, (which was that of the prior's) why she wept? and she answered, that her tears were owing to the impious manner in which the Franciscans attributed to her the honour that was due to him, in saying that she was conceived and born without sin. ""The apparitions, false prodigies, and abominable stratagems of these Dominicans were repeated every night, and the matter was at length so grossly over-acted, that simple as Jetzer was, he at last discovered it, and had almost killed the prior, who appeared to him one night in the form of the virgin with a crown on her head. The Dominicans fearing, by this discovery, to lose the fruits of their imposture, thought the best method would be to own the whole matter to Jetzer, and to engage him by the most seducing promises of opulence and glory, to carry on the cheat. Jetzer was persuaded, or at least appeared to be so. But the Dominicans, suspecting that he was not entirely gained over, resolved to poison him; but his constitution was so vigorous, that though they gave him poison five several time, he was not destroyed by it. One day they sent him a loaf prepared with some spices, which, growing green in a day or two, he threw a piece of it to a wolf's whelps that were in the monastery, and it killed them immediately. At another time, they poisoned the host, or consecrated wafer, but as he vomited it up soon after he swallowed it, he escaped once more. In short, there were no means of securing him, which the most detestable impiety and barbarity could invent, that they did not put in practice, till finding at last an opportunity of getting out of the Convent, he threw himself into the hands of the magistrates, to whom he made a full discovery of this infernal plot. The affair being brought to Rome, Commissaries were sent from thence to examine the matter; and the whole cheat being fully proved, the four friars were solemnly degraded from their priesthood, and were burnt alive on the last day of May, 1509. Jetzer died some time after at Constance, having poisoned himself, as was believed by some. Had his life been taken away before he had found an opportunity of making the discovery already mentioned, this execrable and horrid plot, which in many of its circumstances was conducted with art, would have been handed down to posterity as a stupendous miracle.' "The following extract is remarkable, as exhibiting the facility with which the Pope, he Inquisition, the Clergy, and the people of the Church of Rome, can be imposed on, the value of the authentication which the sanction of the highest authority in that Church can confer on Miracles, the 'severity' of scrutiny to which they are 'voluntarily' subjected, unless there be pressure from without, such as the authority of Princes, or the watchfulness of Protestants, and the wisdom of the practice of the present day, (taught it seems by experience,) to defer such authoritative sanction during the life-time of the parties. "History of the Lisbon Nun, called Maria of the Annunciation.-(From the Church History of Ethiopia, by Michael Ged- "Maria of the Annunciation, was born at Lisbon, and at the age of thirteen was put into the Dominican Convent of the Annunciation in that city; in which, so soon as she was of age to do it, she professed herself a Nun; which she had not done long, before she began to have Miraculous Visions, and to be daily visited by Christ in person; whom she still saluted with the Doxology thus, Glory be to the Father, and to thee, and to the Holy Ghost. Whenever she received the Sacrament, her soul was in a rapture, and was honoured with the vision of the heavenly choir of angels; and when she embraced the crucifix, which she still called her HusBAND, it constantly darted out beams of light much brighter and stronger than those of the sun. "One day as she was at her devotion, Christ appeared to her, and made her a promise to visit her again upon St. Thomas Aquinas's day, and thereon do her the greatest honour that any creature was capable of. "Maria having acquainted Antonio dela Cerda, the Provincial of her Order, who upon her name being so high for miracles, was become her Confessor, with the promise which had been made her, she was directed by him how to prepare herself for the reception of so great a favour; whose directions she punctually observed, for never was any creature more submissive to a Confessor. "Thomas Aquinas's day being come, and all the Nuns and Friars being assembled at Matins, while Maria was in a most profound fit of devotion, Christ crucified appeared to her; and in the sight of the whole congregation, printed all the wounds of his head, side, hands, and feet upon the same parts of her body; she had two and thirty wounds (such as thorns use to make) on her head, and on her side a gash that resembled a wound made with a spear, and on her hands and feet the wounds were of a triangular figure, as if made by a nail; and in order to excite the devotion of the absent as well as present, the rags she laid to the wound on Thursday had always the five wounds of Christ printed on them in the form of a cross; and happy was the Roman Catholic Prince or Princess, who could obtain some of the sacred rags. The Pope he had one, and the King of Spain, who was strangely devoted to her, had another; and the Empress had one sent her against she lay in'; neither was there a Roman Catholle Prince or Princess in Europe, but what had obtained one of them by some interest or other. Para mus, in his History of the Inquisition, saith, that he being at that time an Inquisitor in Sicily, saw one of them which had been sent to the Viceroy, Don Henrique de Gusman's lady, who, he saith, adored it as the most sacred relic in the world. And Philip II, to satisfy the world that he firmly believed all that was reported of the sanctity and miracles of the Lisbon Nun, had the Royal Standard of the Armada, which came against England in the year 1588, blessed by her. "The Inquisition, whose business it is to enquire severely into the truth of things reported to be miracles, having summoned her confessor, and all the rest of the friars who belonged to the convent, to appear before them, was fully satisfied by their depositions and oaths, as eye-witnesses, of the truth of the whole matter as it was reported. Whereupon Gregory XIII. writ her a very godly letter, exhorting her to humility, thankfulness, and perseverance in her devotions; and as there was no Roman Catholic that did in the least doubt the truth of what was reported of her by her Confessor, who published a large account of her miracles; so the poor Protestants were triumphed over strangely on that occasion, as the most perverse heretics that ever were in the world, for neither believing these reports, nor going to Lisbon, where their own eyes would convince them of the truth of them. But the Lady Abbess, (which for her greater mortification, the Nuns and Friars had forced her to be) when she wanted nothing but to have died, to have been canonized a Saint, for her extraordinary piety and miracles, finding all that she said was received by every body as an oracle, she began to mutter that it was revealed to her that Philip II. had no title to the Crown of Portugal, but that the right thereof was in the Duchess of Braganza. The consequence whereof being, that Philip must either resign that Crown or the title of Most Catholic, or look upon her he had expressed so great a veneration for, as an impostor; he chose the latter; the Inquisition striking the oracle dumb, so soon as it began to Antiphilipize. For the Inquisition having thereupon ordered her wounds and other pretensions, to be searched to the bottom, they were at it quickly. Her wounds being found not to be so deep as her skin; and upon examination, to be nothing else but marks made thereon very artificially with red lead. Whereupon she was condemned by the Archbishop of Braza and Lisbon, the Bishop of Guarda, and the Apostolical Inquisitors, of whom at that time the Cardinal Archduke of Austria was the chief, as an hypocrite and impostor, upon the eighth day of December, 1688, being in the thirtysecond year of her age, to severe penances. It may not be out of place here to introduce an instance of a British convicted bearer of the Stigmata in the lifetime of the celebrated Sir Francis of Assisium, and before currency was given to this species of Miracle by the Canonization of the Founder of the Franciscans. "In the year 1222, there was apprehended, by Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, a certain man having in his body and limbs, that is in his side, hands, and feet, the five wounds of one Crucified; and in the same council together with him, one by whom the first was deluded, was arraigned with his accomplice. Upon which, being convicted, and having publicly confessed, they were punished by the judgment of the Church.' "Such are some of the authenticated miracles of the Romish Church adduced from her most accredited documents; such are some of the frauds attempted to be perpetrated in her. Wherein do they differ? In nothing but in those points wherein the Tyrolese Estatics and the Youghal Miracles are distinguished; the fact of success having crowned the efforts of the actors in the one case, and exposure having resulted in the other." Yet in spite of such facts as these, with which the history of Romanism abounds, Lord Shrewsbury and others vouch for the Tyrolese miracles; and similar frauds have been recently acted in Ireland. We hardly know whether the facts are worth narrating; but as the exposure is important, we may perhaps allude to them in a future number. VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS. HER Majesty's Ministers have declined proceeding with the Education clauses of the Factory Bill, considering that under present circumstances there would be no hope of its provisions being carried out in such a spirit as to produce the good effects which the promoters of the plan desired and intended. The necessity of some extensive scheme of religious national education is undeniable; nor can we abate a syllable of what we wrote as to the duty of the Legislature to afford pecuniary assistance, and also to make due use of the aid of the national Church. The Bill, however, was not a Church Bill; but involved large concessions on the part of the Church. All that the Church can do for the present is to exert her own efforts; and if she does this with due energy, she may, without any legislative enactment, widely extend her instructions both to adults and children, and, by God's blessing, recover much lost ground. The state of Ireland has caused vehement debates upon the Arms-Bill. There is just cause of alarm in a state of things that renders such an enactment necessary. Mr. O'Connell's inflammatory addresses to the assembled multitudes of his followers strike at the root both of property and of the British constitution. The landowner is not to be the master of his own acres, but is to be forced to let them out upon terms dictated by agrarian demagogues. Tithe rent is to be confiscated for secular purposes; but doubtless with the ulterior object of diverting it from a Protestant to a Romanist Church Establishment. the national Union is to be abolished, and To accomplish these and other designs, Ireland is to have its own legislature. This is called only repealing an act of essentially differs from treason. parliament; but we see not in what it The Welsh "Rebeccaites," or the discontented might do the same. in any county in the three kingdoms, We cannot but think that the time has come to pursue a decisive course; and to make it a highly penal offence to form a conspiracy for nation divided against itself cannot the dismemberment of the empire. A stand. And if property is threatened, the Protestant faith-true scriptural religion-is much more so; for if Mr. O'Connell's designs were carried into effect, Ireland would relapse into the spiritual barbarism of the darkest ages. We had some remarks to offer upon Dr. Pusey's suspension, but we defer them till the publication of his discourse. There are some kindred subjects which we might advert to, but we have already written upon Tractarian matters in other parts of this Number. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. An Inquirer; E. B.; Paulisper; A. C.; Wayfarer; F. H.; J. S.; Noman; a Country Curate; an American Churchman; and a Constant Reader; are under consideration. |