Curiosities of Christian History Part 37

BONAVENTURA ON "ST. FRANCIS AND THE BIRDS."

Bonaventura, in his Life of St. Francis, thus explains the circ.u.mstance which Giotto the painter made the basis of his painting: "Drawing nigh to Bevagno, Francis came to a certain place where a vast mult.i.tude of birds of different kinds were gathered together, whom seeing, the man of G.o.d ran hastily to the spot, and saluting them, as if they had been his fellows in reason (while they all turned round and bent their heads in attentive expectation), he admonished them, saying, 'Brother birds, greatly are ye bound to praise your Creator who clotheth you with feathers, and giveth you wings to fly with and a pure air to breathe in, and who careth for you who have so little care for yourselves.' While he thus spake the little birds, marvellously commoved, began to spread their wings, stretch forth their necks, and open their beaks, attentively gazing upon him. And he, glowing in the spirit, pa.s.sed through the midst of them, and even touched them with his robe, yet not one stirred from his place until the man of G.o.d gave them leave, when with his blessing and at the sign of the cross they all flew away. These things saw his companions who waited for him on the road; to whom returning, the simple and pure-minded man began greatly to blame himself for having never hitherto preached to the birds." One of the pictures by Giotto in the church of a.s.sisium represents this legend, also a small picture in the Louvre at Paris.

ST. ANTONY PREACHING TO THE FISHES (A.D. 1231).

St. Antony of Padua being come to the city of Rimini, where were many heretics and unbelievers, he was heard to say, that he might as well preach to the fishes, for they would more readily listen to him. The heretics stopped their ears and refused to listen to him; whereupon he repaired to the seash.o.r.e, and stretching forth his hand, he said, "Hear me, ye fishes, for these unbelievers refuse to listen." And truly it was a marvellous thing to see how an infinite number of fishes, great and little, lifted their heads above water and listened attentively to the sermon of the saint. The saint addressed them, and part of his sermon was as follows: "It is G.o.d that has furnished for you the world of waters with lodgings, chambers, caverns, grottoes, and such magnificent retirements as are not to be met with in the seats of kings or in the palaces of princes.

You have the water for your dwelling, a clear, transparent element, brighter than crystal. You can see from its deepest bottom everything that pa.s.ses on its surface. You have the eyes of a lynx or of an argus. The colds of winter and the heats of summer are equally incapable of molesting you. A serene or a clouded sky is indifferent to you. Let the earth abound in fruits, or be cursed with scarcity, it has no influence on your welfare. You live secure in rains and thunders, lightnings and earthquakes. You have no concern in the blossoms of spring or in the glowings of summer, in the fruits of autumn or in the frosts of winter.

You are not solicitous about hours or days or months or years, the variableness of the weather or the change of seasons. You alone were preserved among all the species of creatures that perished in the universal deluge. For these things you ought to be grateful; and since you cannot employ your tongues in the praises of your Benefactor, make at least some reverence--bow yourselves at His name." He had no sooner done speaking than the fish bowed their heads and moved their bodies, as if approving what had been spoken by St. Antony. Heretics who had listened were converted, and the saint gave his benediction to the fishes and dismissed them.

ST. ROCH AND THE SUFFERERS FROM PLAGUE.

St. Roch was born of n.o.ble and wealthy parents at Montpellier in 1280. He was seized early with a consuming pa.s.sion to render help to the sick and the poor, and abandoned all his wealth to become a pilgrim. He was eager to minister to the most helpless and to the plague-stricken. He was attacked during this mission with fever and ulcers, and crawled into the street; but being driven away for fear of contagion, he retired to the woods to die. There help came to him. He had a faithful little dog, and it went every day to the city and brought back to him a loaf of bread. An angel also came and dressed his wounds. He gloried in his sufferings; and at last, haggard and wasted, he returned to his own country and estate; but his relatives did not know him, and he was cast into prison and died.

A bright supernatural light glowed around his dead body, and then it was discovered who he was. He died aged thirty-three. A hundred years later his great deeds were remembered, and his effigy was used to save Constance from the plague. The Venetians, when plague-stricken in 1485, also coveted his relics, and a plot to steal them was contrived. One night a conspirator carried off the saint's body from Montpellier; and the doge, senate, and clergy of Venice, with inexpressible joy, went forth to meet the pious thief, and they built a magnificent church of St. Roch to contain the priceless relics. He and his dog were often painted by the great painters, and Rubens got a large sum for one of his great pictures on that subject for the confraternity of St. Roch at Venice. He is the patron saint of hospitals.

CHAPTER XIII.

_THE CRUSADERS AND PILGRIMS._

A MONK HISTORIAN ON THE CRUSADES.

The old chroniclers are elated with a fine enthusiasm when narrating the exploits of the first Crusaders. Orderic the monk, who died about 1141, thus describes the situation: "Lo, the crusade to Jerusalem is entered on by the inspiration of G.o.d; the people of the West miraculously flock together from many nations, and are led in one united army to fight against the execrable Saracens, who so long had defiled with their abominations all that is sacred. Never, I think, was a more glorious subject presented to those who are well informed in military affairs than that which is divinely offered to the poets and writers of our age in the triumph of a handful of Christians, drawn from their homes by the love of enterprise, over the Pagans in the East. The G.o.d of Abraham renewed His ancient miracles when, actuated only by their zeal to visit the Messiah's tomb, and without the exercise of the authority of kings or any worldly excitement, but by the simple admonition of Pope Urban, He a.s.sembled the Christians of the West from the ends of the earth and the isles of the sea, as He brought the Hebrews out of Egypt by the hand of Moses, and led them through strange nations until He conducted them to Palestine, gave them victory over kings and princes and the a.s.sembled forces of many nations, and enabled them gloriously to conquer strongly fortified cities and to reduce towns under subjection to their arms. I, too, though the least of all the followers of the Lord in a religious rule of life, for the love I bear to the brave champions of Christ, am ambitious to celebrate their valiant achievements."

CRUSADES BENEFICIAL TO THE CHURCH.

The crusades brought the civilisation of the West in contact with that of the Arabs, who were more advanced in some respects. Literature, science, navigation, and trade benefited. Large feudal estates were sold, and citizens of towns were enriched and set up by kings as a counterpoise to overpowerful va.s.sals. The sees and monasteries became purchasers of large estates on easy terms. But the Popes were the chief gainers by the crusades. They acquired control over Western Christendom, and over the emperors, kings, and princes who engaged in this service, and plighted their faith to carry through great enterprises. The Popes claimed sovereignty over lands wrested from the infidels. But, above all, it gave the Popes a continual pretext for sending legates to interfere in every country and levy contributions, which, at first voluntary, soon took the form of rights to perpetual tribute.

THE PRACTICE OF PILGRIMAGES TO PALESTINE.

The desire of Christians to visit the tombs of martyrs and famous saints may be considered almost natural, but it received great encouragement from the Empress Helena's discovery of the cross. The early Fathers were not emphatic in favour of the practice, for Jerome declared that heaven was as accessible from Britain as from Palestine. But in the sixth century the pa.s.sion grew. Pilgrimages were projected and accomplished on a great scale. Hospitals were endowed for entertaining the pilgrims along the great highway. Pilgrims were exempted from toll. Charlemagne ordered that lodging, fire, and water be always supplied to them. In Jerusalem there were caravansaries for their reception. The pilgrim set forth amid the blessings and prayers of his kindred or community with his simple outfit--the staff, the wallet, and the scallop-sh.e.l.l; he returned a privileged, in some sense a sanctified, being. Pilgrimage expiated all sin. The bathing in the Jordan was, as it were, a second baptism, and washed away all the evil of the former life. The shirt which he had worn when he entered the holy city was carefully laid by as a winding-sheet, and possessed, it was supposed, the power of transporting him to heaven.

The stable of Bethlehem, the garden of Gethsemane, the height where the Ascension took place, had a fascination for every eye. To gratify the pilgrims, the descent of fire from heaven to kindle the lights round the holy sepulchre had been played off from an early period before the wondering worshippers. Jerusalem also became the emporium of relics. Each pilgrim would bring back a splinter of the true cross or some special memorial of the Virgin or a famous saint. The demand for these was great, and the supply was inexhaustible. At a later period the silks, jewels, and spices of the East mingled in the mart of holy things. Down to the conquest of Jerusalem by Chosroes the Persian, in 614, the tide of pilgrimage flowed uninterruptedly to the Holy Land; and even the Saracens in 637, when the conquerors, did not prohibit them, though the dangers increased.

EARLY TRAVELS IN PALESTINE.

The earliest traveller from Western Europe to the Holy Land who has left an account was Pierre Pithou from Bordeaux in 333. But pilgrims were often going on the same journey. In 385 St. Eusebius of Cremona, and his friend St. Jerome, and a large company also visited the chief places. Soon after St. Paula and her daughter went the round, and on Mount Zion they were shown the column to which Christ was bound when scourged. In the seventh century St. Antoninus went there also. When the Saracens obtained possession of Jerusalem in 637, they soon saw that it would be to their advantage to preserve the holy places and profit by the charges so many strangers were willing to pay. The French bishop, Arculf, visited Palestine about 690, and afterwards visited Northumberland and Iona.

Pilgrims thereafter up to 980 brought worse and worse accounts of their treatment and the profanations of the holy places. The celebrated Gerbert, afterwards Pope, returned from a visit in 986, and suggested that the Christian world ought in some way to interfere. Soon after pilgrims went in armed bodies, and serious quarrels occurred. The news that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre had been thrown down excited great consternation in Europe about 1048. Changes in the rulers occurred at that time. At last Peter the Hermit, in 1095, raised to a frenzy all the adventurous enthusiasts till they arranged the First Crusade.

THE WAYS OF PILGRIMS.

The fashion of going on pilgrimage became noticeable in the fourth century, the Holy Land being the chief attraction. Hospitals were founded at convenient places to accommodate pilgrims. The order of Knights Templars was founded to escort the caravans and protect them in wild and dangerous places. Rome and the shrine of St. James at Compostella or Santiago were added in the Middle Ages as centres. Rich and poor joined in this desire of travel. The pilgrims repaid their entertainers with the news they carried from distant countries. Before a man went on pilgrimage he first went to his church and received the Church's blessing and prayers. He lay prostrate at the altar while the priest and choir sang over him appropriate psalms, such as the twenty-fourth, fiftieth, and ninetieth. Then his scrip and palmer-staff were blessed and sprinkled with holy water, and the Ma.s.s was celebrated. The proper costume or pilgrim's weeds were a grey woollen robe and felt hat, staff, scrip, and water-bottle. Some went barefoot as a penance, or made a vow not to cut hair or beard till the pilgrimage was accomplished. If the Holy Land was the destination, the robe was signed with the cross, as a special sign and token, and each, after accomplishing his round of holy places, was ent.i.tled to wear the palm, and hence was called palmer. The sign of the Compostella pilgrimage was the scallop-sh.e.l.l. The sign of the Canterbury pilgrims was an ampullar flask, so-called from the vessel in which the blood of the martyr Thomas a Becket had been collected. These flasks were at first of wood, but latterly of lead and pewter. A bell was often added to the ampulla. Besides the badge, these pilgrims had their gathering-cry, and the Canterbury pilgrims lightened their journey with song and music and sometimes the bagpipe. When the pilgrim returned home, he presented himself at church to give thanks. Often a procession would go to meet the returning pilgrim, especially as he usually brought presents of silk cloths to the churches for copes or coverings of the altars. The emblems of these pilgrimages were often depicted on the pilgrim's tomb.

PETER THE HERMIT (A.D. 1095).

When the Turks supplanted the Mohammedans as masters of Jerusalem, being a more fanatical and barbarous race they treated the Christians of Palestine as slaves, and pilgrims found it more and more dangerous to gratify their lifelong pa.s.sion to visit that country. The growing indignation at this treatment found a n.o.ble champion in Peter the Hermit, who died 1115. He went the round of Christendom, and found all ready to enter into some great confederation, if they only knew how, to rescue the holy places from these accursed infidels. Peter was a Frank from Picardy, of ign.o.ble stature, but with a quick and flashing eye; his spare, sharp person was full of fire from the restless soul within. He had himself visited the Holy Land, and his heart burned within him at the sight of the oppressions of Christian men. He told everybody he had had a vision when he was in the Temple; and the voice of the Lord Himself was heard in these very words: "Rise, Peter; go forth to make known the tribulations of My people; the hour is come for the delivery of My servants, for the recovery of the holy places!" Peter at once went forth, and had interviews with the Pope and with princes and great men, and all saw and confessed he was a true prophet. He rode round Europe on a mule with a crucifix in his hand, his head and feet bare; his dress was a long robe girt with a cord, and a hermit's cloak of the coa.r.s.est stuff. His eloquence was heart-stirring, mingled here and there with tears and groans; he preached in pulpits, in highways and market-places. He beat his breast. He appealed to every pa.s.sion--to valour and shame, to indignation and pity, to the pride of the warrior, the compa.s.sion of the man, to the religion of the Christian, to the hatred of the unbeliever, to reverence for the Redeemer, to the avenging of the saints, to the hopes of eternal life. He invoked the holy angels, the saints in heaven, the Mother of G.o.d, the Lord Himself. He called on the holy places, on Zion, on Calvary, on the holy sepulchre, to give forth their voices against these infidels. He held up the crucifix, as if Christ Himself was imploring them to be ready and act at once.

Peter's eloquence struck the true chord of sympathy, and electrified the crowds who listened and echoed his enthusiasm. Gifts showered upon him.

All ages and both s.e.xes crowded to touch even his garment. The very hairs that dropped from his mule were caught and treasured as relics. All Western Christendom gradually rose as one man in obedience to the spell.

The Pope, Urban II., caught the contagion, and summoned and harangued the Council of Clermont in the same style. He called on all men through their bishops to rise and deliver these holy places, which were made dens of thieves and stalls for cattle, and were polluted and defiled by atrocities not to be named. While Christian blood was shed, it was time for them to gird on their swords. He a.s.sured them the Saviour Himself, the G.o.d of armies, would be their guide in battle. The wealth of their enemies would of course be theirs. He offered absolution for all sins; there was no crime which might not be redeemed by this act of obedience: absolution without penance would be granted to all who took arms in the sacred cause.

Eternal life would be the portion of all who fell in battle or in the march to the Holy Land. For himself he must remain aloof; but while they were slaughtering the enemy, he would be perpetually engaged in fervent and prevailing prayer for their success. At the close of this harangue all admitted and felt the force of the enthusiasm, and exclaimed, "It is the will of G.o.d! it is the will of G.o.d!" The contagion spread. France, Germany, Italy, England, furnished wild mult.i.tudes, eager and ready to enlist in this glorious warfare. All began to sharpen their spears and collect their outfit for a grand enterprise, certain to be a success.

POPE URBAN PREACHING FOR A CRUSADE (A.D. 1095).

When Pope Urban in 1095 preached at the conclusion of the Council of Clermont, he thus urged on the faithful to join the crusade: "We see that the breadth of the whole world is now full of faithless and blaspheming Pagans, who worship stocks and stones. They have occupied as a perpetual possession the third part of the world, and that part wherein all the Apostles, except two suffered martyrdom for the Lord. They have also, with shame be it said, possession of Africa, that land which gave to mankind the Holy Scriptures and extinguished the errors of infidelity. They claim possession of our Lord's tomb, and sell to our pilgrims for money admission to the holy city. Gird yourselves then for the battle, my brave warriors, for a memorable expedition against the enemies of the cross. Let the sign of the cross decorate your shoulders; let your outward ardour declare your inward faith. Turn against the enemies of Christ those weapons which you have hitherto stained with blood in battles and tournaments among yourselves. Let your zeal in this expedition atone for the rapine, theft, homicide, fornication, and deeds of incendiarism by which you have provoked the Lord to anger. In virtue of the power which G.o.d has given us, however unworthy of it, to bind and to loose, all who engage in this expedition in their own persons and at their own expense shall receive a full pardon for all the offences which they shall repent of in their hearts and with their lips confess, and we promise to the same and to all who contribute their substance an increased portion of eternal salvation. Go then, brave soldiers, secure to yourselves fame throughout the world; disown all fear of death. Those who die will sit down in the heavenly guest chamber, and those who survive will set their eyes on our Lord's sepulchre."

THE CRUSADERS' HUNGER FOR EARTH OF PALESTINE.

At the time when the First Crusade was organised, Pope Urban harangued a vast crowd of the clergy and laity, urging them to join it, and adding: "What can be greater happiness than for any one in his lifetime to see those places where the Lord of heaven went about as a man?" All then believed the soil of Palestine to be sacred. Even its dust was adored. It was carefully conveyed to Europe in bagfuls and pocketfuls, and the fortunate possessor, whether by original acquisition or by purchase, was considered to be secured against the malevolence of demons. St. Augustine relates a story of the cure of a young man who had some of the dust of the holy city suspended in a bag over his bed. It became a fashion for each of the pilgrims to bring some home in his bag. At Pisa the cemetery of the Campo Santo was said to contain five fathoms of holy earth brought in 1218 from Palestine by the Pisans. Friends and neighbours walked with an intending pilgrim to the next town, and loaded him with their benedictions, and turned back with many tears. The village pastor delivered a staff to the pilgrim, and put round him a scarf or girdle, with a leathern scrip or wallet attached. They all believed that a prayer in Jerusalem was worth ten thousand common prayers in other places. There were hospitals and houses of rest provided for weary pilgrims on the road.

In their first battles, they fancied they saw figures riding on white horses, and in white armour and cloth of gold, all in the air, helping them with celestial weapons. When they first caught sight of Jerusalem, all eyes were transfixed and bathed with tears and shining with rapture as they gazed on that hallowed spot.

HOW A PENITENTIAL CRUSADER WENT ALONG.

William, Count of Poitiers, before setting out on his crusade to the Holy Land, took his leave thus: "I wish to compose a chant, and the subject shall be that which causes my sorrow. I go into exile beyond sea, and leave my beloved Poitiers and Limousin. I go beyond sea to the place where pilgrims implore their pardon. Adieu, brilliant tournaments! adieu, grandeur and magnificence, and all that is dear to my heart! Nothing can stop me. I go to the plains where G.o.d promised remission of sins. Pardon me, all you my companions, if I have ever offended you. I implore your pardon. I offer my repentance to Jesus the Master of heaven; to Him I address my prayer. Too long have I been abandoned to worldly distractions; but the voice of the Lord has been heard. We must appear before His tribunal. I sink under the weight of my iniquities."

HOW THE CRUSADERS GOT RID OF SPIES (A.D. 1097).

In 1097, while the Crusaders were besieging Antioch, they were alarmed by the knowledge that there were spies in the camp out of every unbelieving nation in the East, who found it easy to remain undiscovered by calling themselves merchants from Greece, Syria, or Armenia, who brought provisions for sale to the army. These spies witnessed the famine and pestilence which prevailed in the camp, and the pilgrims justly feared that this intelligence would spread to their destruction. The princes were at a loss what to do; but Beaumont, who was a shrewd man, about twilight, when his comrades were all engaged throughout the camp in preparing their supper, commanded several Turkish prisoners to be put to death and their flesh to be roasted over a large fire to be prepared for table. He further instructed the servants, if asked what they were about, to reply that general orders had been given that in future all Turks who should be brought in prisoners by the scouts should be served up for food both to the princes and the people. All the army soon heard of this remarkable news, and the Turkish spies in the camp believed that it was done in earnest. Fearing, therefore, lest the same thing should happen to themselves, they left the camp and returned to their own country, where they told their employers that the men in the Crusaders' army exceeded the ferocity of beasts; and not content with plundering castles and cities, they must needs fill their bellies with the flesh and blood of their victims. This report spread throughout the most distant countries, and by this means the grievance of spies was put a stop to.

CRUSADERS DISCOVERING THE HOLY LANCE (A.D. 1098).

When the Crusaders were besieged by the Turks in Antioch in 1098, and suffering from famine and despair, and many men failing in courage and escaping by night from the walls, thence called rope-dancers, a sudden gleam of confidence came to their relief. A priest of Ma.r.s.eilles, named Peter Bartholomey, though known to be of cunning and loose manners, suddenly knocked at the door of the council chamber to disclose an apparition of St. Andrew, who thrice appeared to him in his sleep, and called on him under heavy threats to reveal the commands of Heaven. The saint had thus addressed Peter: "At Antioch, in the church of my brother St. Peter near the high altar, is concealed the steel head of the lance that pierced the side of our Redeemer. In three days that instrument of eternal and now of temporal salvation will be manifested to His disciples.

Search and ye shall find; bear it aloft in battle, and that mystic weapon shall penetrate the souls of the miscreants." The Pope's legate, the Bishop of Puy, listened with coldness, but Count Raymond eagerly welcomed this revelation. The attempt was made, and after prayer and fasting the priest of Ma.r.s.eilles introduced twelve trusty spectators, and barred the doors to keep out the excited mult.i.tude. The ground was broken and dug to a depth of twelve feet and nothing found; but in the evening, when the guards were drowsy, Peter, in his shirt and without shoes, boldly descended into the pit in the dark with the head of a Saracen lance, and this he pretended with devout rapture to discover by its gleam as the genuine relic. The chiefs affected to recognise the discovery and to inspire enthusiasm. The gates were thrown open, while a procession of monks and priests chanted the psalm "Let G.o.d arise and let His enemies be scattered." The holy lance was entrusted to a faithful leader; three knights in white garments also suddenly appeared to help the Crusaders, whose spirits were roused to the highest pitch.

THE HOLY LANCE PUTS THE INFIDELS TO ROUT (A.D. 1098).

When the holy lance was discovered and the Crusaders were in the highest enthusiasm and marched out of Antioch, the Sultan Corbogha was so struck by their impa.s.sioned, stern, and indomitable aspect, that he had misgivings, and even made proposals which were haughtily rejected. The battle was long, stubborn, and at points indecisive, but at last the pious and warlike enthusiasm of the Crusaders prevailed over the savage bravery of the Turks. The Sultan soon fled away towards the Euphrates with a weak escort. Tancred pursued till nightfall the retiring hosts. The Christian chroniclers say that 100,000 infidels were slain, while only 4,000 Crusaders were left on the field of battle. The camp of the Turks was given over to pillage, and 15,000 camels and many horses were secured. The camp of the Sultan Corbogha was a rich prize and an object of admiration.

It was laid out in streets, flanked by towers, as if it were a fortified town; gold and precious stones glittered in every part of it. It was capable of accommodating 2,000 persons. Beaumont sent it to Italy, where it was long preserved. After that battle, says Albert of Aix, every Crusader found himself richer than he had been when starting from Europe.

Nevertheless the effect on the Crusaders was disastrous. Some abandoned themselves to the licence of victory, others to the sweets of repose. Some longed to go home; others to push for further conquests. After long debates and rivalries the majority decided to wait till the heat of summer was over before attempting to capture Jerusalem. It was eight months before the bulk of the Crusaders began to move on.

THE CRUSADERS TESTING A DOUBTFUL POINT.

In 1099 the Crusaders were at Marra, when a dissension existed between Beaumont and the Count of Toulouse, and murmurs arose among the armies as to the delays thereby caused. The Count, in order to satisfy the people, pa.s.sed on to a city called Archis, and pitched their camp near the sea coast. The Christians besieged the city a long time, but without success.

Here the question was again mooted concerning the lance with which our Lord's side had been pierced. Some said that it had really been appointed by Divine inspiration for the consolation of the army; whilst others maliciously contended that it was a stratagem of the Count of Toulouse, and was no discovery at all, but invented solely for gain. A large fire was therefore kindled of a size sufficient to terrify the bystanders; and when all the people were a.s.sembled together one day, the priest Peter, to whom the discovery of the lance had been made, underwent a perilous ordeal, for when he had offered up a prayer he took the lance with him and pa.s.sed unhurt through the midst of the fire. But as he died a few days afterwards, the ordeal did not give entire satisfaction to the opposite party.