De contracto quem rex sanctus portando curavit.
The Cripple's Arrival
A wretched, crippled Irishman named Gillemichel crawls into King Edward's court, stirring compassion and prompting the king to offer help.
When the peaceful king was staying for a time in the royal city, in the palace next to the basilica of blessed Peter, there came to him a certain wretched man, Irish by birth, named Gillemichel in the language of his own people, who had lost the use of both feet. The nerves in his knees had contracted and pulled his legs backward; they had stuck to his buttocks, and his feet, sunk into their own flesh from the hips downward, had twisted his whole body out of shape. With his hands stretched flat to the ground and his knees placed beneath him, he crept along, dragging himself behind him — a pitiful sight to behold — and stirring compassion in many who looked on. To crown his misery, he was also in dire want — the hardship of hunger and the harshness of the weather had wasted his half-dead body with disease and sheer emaciation. When this man had crept into the royal court and presented himself to the king's chamberlain, the chamberlain said: 'Is this how it is, Hugolin — you won't even look at me?' Won't you take pity on me? Won't the utter ruin of one man move you? And the king replied: 'What would you have me do?'
The Apostle's Command
The cripple reveals that Saint Peter has commanded the king to carry him to the church as the condition for his healing, and the king humbly obeys.
The poor man said to him: "Six times — as you yourself can see right now — I crept to the thresholds of the holy apostles in the city where they rest, in misery, and yet I haven't earned my healing; but most blessed Peter hasn't refused it to me, only deferred it, choosing to have Edward as a partner in this miracle, a man he knows is devoted to him in every way." "For now, about to set out for the city for the seventh time, I received this charge from the holy apostle himself: to approach the king and carry out the apostolic command, so that he might bear me — carried on his sacred back — to the church of the one near the palace, and if he does this, he will receive whole health for his members as their due reward." When these things were reported to the king, he gives thanks to God and promises that he will obey the apostle and not fail the poor man, but will offer him the service he had received in command. When he was told, the sick man soon approached. The king, like that strong spiritual donkey lying down within its bounds, placed his shoulders to carry the load.✦ "Hear this, all you nations; give ear, you who inhabit the earth."✦ Gather to a spectacle such as no circus ever offered and no theater ever staged. From the shoulder of so great a prince hangs a poor man, full of filth; with squalid hands and scaly arms he embraces that royal breast and neck.✦
A Necklace Beyond Gold
Onlookers mock the king's humility, but the devout recognize Christ in the beggar and witness the cripple's sinews begin to stretch and heal during the journey.
O necklace more splendid than any gem, O necklace more precious than any gold, more gleaming than any amber. Meanwhile, some of the bystanders laughed, others mocked the king as the beggar had been mocked, but the righteous interpreted his simplicity and gentleness as foolishness. Behold, a new David dancing and applauding; behold, a new Michal scorned and laughed at.✦ Yet those of sounder mind judged him happier under such a burden than under a golden crown. For you, Christ Jesus, were carried in this beggar — you who once were sheltered in the beggar that Martin covered with his cloak.✦ But what was then revealed by prophecy, you have now made known by miracle. And so when the king, burdened with that noble burden, had gone a little way, suddenly the sinews that his chronic disease had contracted began to stretch, the passages of blood that the stiffness of his veins had blocked began to open, his bones stiffened, and his withered flesh grew warm again. His joints emerged from the flesh, his feet were loosed from the buttocks.
Healing and Thanksgiving
The cripple is fully restored at the altar, receives care from the sacristan, and departs for Rome to proclaim the king's holiness, leaving his crutches as testimony.
The man stretches out his legs at the knee, now supple, and with pus flowing along with blood, his royal garment is adorned rather than stained. Now then everyone shouts that the crippled man has been sufficiently healed, that because of the filth of his sores the burden must now be laid down. Mindful of the instruction he had received, he passed through the Sirens' song with stopped-up ear, and entering the church, before the holy altar he presents the holocaust he had brought to God and to blessed Peter. Godricus, sacristan of the church, a man of deep devotion, took the poor man from the saint's shoulders, and once his limbs and sores had been washed and treated, sent him away shortly afterward healthy and unharmed. The man stood on his own feet, and with his foundations and soles made firm, he is presented to the king. After receiving provisions for the journey from him, blessing God he set out for Rome, about to render thanks to blessed Peter the apostle and to proclaim everywhere the merits of the holy king. As testimony of so great a miracle, the crutches on which that wretched crawling man had been accustomed to lean are hung up in the church, offering a pleasing sight to those who look and showing the king's holiness to those who come. This miracle indeed offered the holy king the greatest incentive both to love and to venerate blessed Peter's merits at the same time, and to complete the work that had been begun in his name, and it kindled desire and drew his heart to it.
Why Edward Chose This Place
The author explains that Edward's choice to restore this particular church was confirmed by both an ancient miracle and a heavenly vision.
Yet among all the places in England dedicated to blessed Peter, he chose this one above all for restoration — and not only, as we said earlier, because of a heavenly vision's oracle, but also because of the most ancient witness of a renowned miracle, which taught him that this place was dearer to Peter than any other. Although this may seem beyond the scope of our subject, nevertheless, to show the king's diligence in making this choice, we believe it should be included in our work.
Read the original Latin
Cum in civitate regia in palatio juxta beati Petri basilicam rex pacificus aliquando moraretur, supervenit vir quidam miserabilis Hybernicus genere, secundum proprietatem linguae illius vocabulo Gillemichel, pedis utriusque privatus officio. Nervi enim in poplite contracti, ad posteriores corporis partes crura retorserant, tali natibus inhaeserant, immersi carnibus pedum articuli a lumbis ejus et deorsum corpus omne perverterant. Porrectis terra tenus manibus scamnis suppositis repebat, et factus sibimet ipsi gravis, trahebat se post se, miserabile spectaculum intuentibus praebens et multorum in se provocans pietatem. Accessit ad cumulum infelicitatis rei inopia familiaris, ob quam famis injuria et inclementia aeris tabe simul ac macie semesum corpus illud affecerant. Hic igitur cum curiae irrerepsisset, et se regis cubiculario obtulisset: «Itane, inquit, Hugoline, non me respicies? non misereberis? non te movebit unius hominis tanta calamitas?» Et ille: «Quid me vis facere?»
Cui pauper: «Sexies, inquit, sanctorum apostolorum limina in urbe qua requiescunt, ita miserabiliter repens ut tu ipse nunc aspicis, visitavi, sanitatem vero necdum promerui, quam tamen mihi Petrus beatissimus non negavit sed distulit, socium in hoc miraculo habere volens Edwardum, quem sibi novit in omnibus esse devotum. Jam enim nunc septimo profecturus ad urbem, ab ipso sancto apostolo in mandatis accepi, regem adire, apostolicum perferre praeceptum, ut me suo sacro subvectum dorso ad ecclesiam ejus quae palatio vicina est perferat, recepturum si id fecerit meritis ejus membrorum meorum integram sanitatem.» Haec ubi nuntiata sunt regi, agit Deo gratias, seque pariturum apostolo, nec inopi defuturum sed praebiturum obsequium, ut in mandatis acceperat, pollicebatur. Scitatus mox aeger accessit. Rex ut spiritalis ille asinus fortis ac cubans in terminis supposuit humeros suos ad portandum. Audite haec, omnes gentes, auribus percipite qui habitatis terram. Congregamini ad spectaculum, quale circus nullus unquam praebuit, nec theatrum finxit. Pendet ab humero tanti principis plenus sordibus pauper, squalidis manibus brachiisque squamosis regium illud pectus collumque complectitur.
O monile omni gemma splendidius, o torquem omni pretiosiorem auro, omni electro fulgentiorem. Interea ex assistentibus ridebant nonnulli, alii a paupere illusum regem jocabantur, alii justi simplicitatem et mansuetudinem fatuitatem interpretabantur. Ecce novus David saltus et plausus, ecce novus Michol contemptus et risus. Quibus tamen erat mens sanior, feliciorem eum sub tali sarcina quam sub corona aurea judicabant. Tu enim, Christe Jesu, tu in paupere portabaris, qui quondam in paupere quem Martinus texerat tegebaris. Sed hoc tunc oraculo, hoc nunc miraculo prodidisti. Cum itaque oneratus nobili illo onere rex paululum processisset, subito nervi quos inveteratus ille morbus contraxerat extenduntur, meatus sanguinis quos venarum rigor obcluserat, reserantur, rigantur ossa, carnes marcidae recalescunt. Emergunt a carne articuli, pedes solvuntur a natibus.
Distendit homo crura poplite jam flexibili, sanieque cum sanguine profluente, vestis regia ornatur potius quam foedatur. Jam tunc satis esse clamant omnes sanatum languidum, onus ob sordes ulcerum jam deponendum. Ille memor praecepti quod susceperat, sirenarum cantus obturata aure petransiit, ingressusque ecclesiam, ante sanctum altare holocaustum quod detulerat Deo ac beato Petro resignat. Suscepit ab humeris sancti pauperem magnae religionis vir ipsius sacrista ecclesiae nomine Godricus, lotisque membris ulceribusque curatis, paulo post sanum et incolumem dimisit. Stetit supra pedes suos homo, ac solidatis basibus ejus et plantis, regi praesentatur. A quo itineris suscepto viatico, benedicens Deum profectus est Romam, acturus beato Petro apostolo gratias, et sancti regis merita praedicaturus ubique. Ad tanti testimonium miraculi, scamna quibus miser ille repens inniti consueverat, in ecclesia suspenduntur, gratum spectantibus praebentia spectaculum, et regis sanctitatem advenientibus ostendentia. Hoc profecto miraculum ad diligenda simul et veneranda beati Petri merita maximum sancto regi praebuit incentivum, et ad opus quod in ejus nomine inchoaverat consummandum et desiderium ignivit et illexit affectum.
Verum prae caeteris quae beato Petro per Angliam consecrata sunt loca, hunc potissimum restaurandum elegit, quia non solum, ut supra diximus, coelestis visionis oraculo, sed etiam antiquissimi attestatione miraculi istum ei didicit prae omnibus chariorem. Quod licet praeter materiam esse videatur, ad ostendendam tamen regis in hac electione industriam, huic operi nostro credimus inserendum.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.21.1-Matt.21.11 — And when they had come near to Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, Matt.21.2 — saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. Matt.21.3 — And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and he will send them at once. Matt.21.4 — Now this took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, saying, Matt.21.5 — And "Say to daughter Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, gentle and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Matt.21.6 — So the disciples went and did just as Jesus had commanded them. Matt.21.7 — They brought the donkey and the colt, and they laid their garments on them, and he sat on them. Matt.21.8 — And most of the crowd spread their own garments on the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. Matt.21.9 — The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed were shouting, saying, 'Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!' Matt.21.10 — And when he entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, "Who is this?" Matt.21.11 — And the crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."
- ↩Ps.48.1;Ps.50.1 — A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. Ps.50.1 — A Psalm of Asaph. God, the LORD God, has spoken and summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
- ↩Isa.53.4;Matt.8.17 — And Surely he carried our sicknesses and bore our pains, yet we considered him stricken, struck by God, and afflicted. Matt.8.17 — And This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: "He took our illnesses and carried our diseases."
- ↩2Sam.6.14-2Sam.6.22 — And David was dancing before the LORD with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. 2Sam.6.15 — David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. 2Sam.6.16 — And it happened, when the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, that Michal daughter of Saul looked out through the window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart. 2Sam.6.17 — They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David offered burnt offerings before the LORD and fellowship offerings. 2Sam.6.18 — When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts. 2Sam.6.19 — Then he distributed to all the people, to the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each person a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. And all the people departed, each to his home. 2Sam.6.20 — Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and she said, "How honored was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!" 2Sam.6.21 — Then David said to Michal, 'It was before the LORD, who chose me above your father and all his house, appointing me as ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel, that I danced before the LORD. 2Sam.6.22 — I will be even more lightly esteemed than this, and I will be humbled in my own eyes; but with the maidservants of whom you have spoken, with them I will be honored.
- ↩Matt.25.40 — And the King will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
Aelred of Rievaulx, Vita Sancti Edwardi Regis et Confessoris companion
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