De tribus caecis et uno monoculo per beatum virum illuminatis.
The Four Blind Men at the Palace
Four one-eyed men are found at the palace doors, and the one-eyed man among three fully blind men shows humble faith, trusting in God's mercy.
These things are remarkable indeed, but what follows is even more remarkable. Four men were found before the palace doors, each with only one eye, consoling themselves with what they had. For when all three were completely deprived of sight, the one-eyed man went ahead, clearly faithful even in his modest condition, so that he might deserve to receive greater things.
The Courtier's Secret Faith
A courtier, seeing the healing power at work, secretly takes some of the healing water in faith and washes the blind men's faces, praying to blessed Edward.
One of the courtiers suffers with so many others laboring under the same affliction, and seeing how great a power had gone out from the royal hands, he secretly, in full faith, steals a portion of the water by which light had been restored to the blind man, believing that it would also work in many others, since he had seen it work so evidently and effectively in one.1 The faithful man goes out to the wretched, urges them to trust in the Lord, and to believe that through the merits of the holy king their health will be restored to them. Then, having brought a basin, he washed the darkened faces of the poor, signed them with his thumb, and prayed that God would deign to look not upon his own merits, but upon those of blessed Edward.
Light Restored to the Blind
At once the Lord's hand is present, the blind men's eyes are opened, and night is turned into day for them.
The hand of the Lord was present at once, and with the eyelids opened, the longed-for light poured in. Night is turned into day for them, and the darkened face is bathed in the splendor of the sun.
The Sevenfold Grace of the Holy Spirit
The seven lamps shining from the four men's foreheads signify that Saint Edward was filled with the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit, and he who inwardly bore the seven eyes of God rightly poured outward light on the blind.
So seven lamps shining from the foreheads of four men made our Edward more famous than all ages combined. Let what I have written for now about the blind men to whom he restored sight be enough, so that in this last miracle—where I spoke of the seven lamps—I may teach that the holy king was filled with the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit: the spirit of the fear of the Lord, once the darkness of pride was driven away, opened the eye of humility for him; once the blindness of faithlessness was wiped clean, the spirit of devotion poured in the light of faith; the spirit of knowledge, once the fog of falsehood was put to flight, illuminated him with the light of truth; the spirit of fortitude made him stronger than all enemies, both bodily and spiritual; once the darkness of ignorance was struck down, he received the light of discernment through the spirit of counsel; the spirit of understanding transferred his mind from earthly things to heavenly, from bodily to spiritual, from the night of this world to the contemplation of heavenly lights; and the spirit of wisdom endowed him with the grace of prophetic light and the knowledge of divine counsels.✦ Rightly, then, with a sevenfold light he poured over the outward eyes of men once blindness was driven away—he who deserved to be inwardly illuminated by the light of the seven eyes that were seen in the heavenly field.✦
Read the original Latin
Miranda quidem haec, sed plus miranda sequuntur. Inventi sunt ante fores palatii viri quatuor unius oculi fruentes solatio. Nam tribus omni privatis unus praeibat monoculus, in modico plane fidelis, ut multa recipere mereretur. Compatitur tantis eadem calamitate laborantibus quidam de palatinis, qui ex regiis manibus tantam videns exisse virtutem, portionem aquae qua fuerat lux caeco restituta, fide plenus pio furto subrepsit, credens illam etiam in plurimis operatum iri, quod in uno tam evidenter eam viderat et efficaciter operatam. Egreditur ad miseros vir fidelis, rogat eos confidere in Domino et per merita sancti regis reparandam sibi credere sanitatem. Deinde adhibito lavacro tenebrosas pauperum facies lavit, signavit pollice, et non ut sua Deus, sed beati Edwardi merita respicere dignaretur, oravit. Adfuit statim manus Domini, et reseratis palpebris lumen desideratum infudit. Nox eis in diem vertitur, et facies tenebrosa solis splendore perfunditur.
Ita septem lucernae ex virorum quatuor fronte lucentes, Edwardum nostrum clariorem cunctis saeculis reddiderunt. Haec de caecis quibus visum restituit, interim scripsisse sufficiat, ut in hoc ultimo miraculo quo de lucernis septem, fecimus mentionem, regem sanctum septiformi Spiritus sancti gratia doceamus esse repletum; cui spiritus timoris Domini, depulsis superbiae tenebris, humilitatis oculum reseravit; cui infidelitatis caecitate detersa, fidei lumen spiritus pietatis infudit; quem spiritus scientiae, fugata caligine falsitatis, lumine veritatis illustravit; quem spiritus fortitudinis cunctis tam corporalibus quam spiritualibus reddidit hostibus fortiorem; qui tenebris ignorantiae pulsis, per spiritum consilii lumen discretionis obtinuit; quem de terrenis ad coelestia, de corporalibus ad spiritualia, de nocte mundi hujus ad contemplationem coelestium luminum spiritus transtulit intellectus; quem propheticae lucis gratia, et divinorum cognitione consiliorum spiritus sapientiae muneravit. Merito proinde luce septemplici exteriores hominum oculos depulsa caecitate perfudit, qui septem oculorum lumine qui in agro coelesti visi sunt interius illustrari promeruit.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Isa.11.2-Isa.11.3 — And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. Isa.11.3 — And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, nor decide by what his ears hear.
- ↩Rev.5.6;Zech.4.10 — And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Zech.4.10 — For who has despised the day of small things? Yet they shall rejoice and see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel — these seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range throughout the whole earth.
Notes
- 1 ↩The water is treated as a channel of grace: the courtier's 'theft' is an act of bold faith, not greed. 'Pio furto' (pious theft) is a hagiographic motif of holy boldness.
Aelred of Rievaulx, Vita Sancti Edwardi Regis et Confessoris companion
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