De puella ad ejus tumulam sanata.
Saints and a King
Scriptural and Edwardian testimonies to God's defense of his saints, introducing the feast and the royal artisan Matilda.
The most holy prophet Elisha, mocked by more than forty boys, avenged the insult with his curse and handed them all over to be punished by wild beasts. The most impious magician Elymas, who was blaspheming the apostles, was struck down by blessed Paul with sudden blindness.✦ Christ therefore declares that the wrong done to his saints rebounds on himself: 'Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever despises you despises me.'✦ The Lord Jesus shows this in Edward's own case, punishing with great severity those who detracted from his sanctity, and rewarding those who obeyed him with the bestowal of benefits. In the city there was a noblewoman named Matilda, most skilled in the art of purple-dyeing, who had been accustomed to adorn the garments of kings and wealthy men with gold, to embellish them with gems, and to vary them with pictures, flowers, and woven work.1 A certain most noble and wealthy woman, who had been given in marriage to the count of Gloverne and was held to be only a little below the queen, had entrusted to her a work of no ordinary price, since she strove to surpass all the other countesses throughout England in wealth as well as in the adornment of her garments.2 She pressed every day, not only that everything be done artistically, but also that it be completed quickly. Meanwhile the blessed king and martyr Edward was present.
The Blasphemous Worker
On the feast of St. Edward, a young worker dismisses the king's sanctity and refuses to cease work, provoking her mistress's righteous rebuke.
The glorious solemnity of this prince of ours — their paternal uncle, killed by wicked men though he was guilty of nothing — is believed to have been crowned with the martyrdom of innocence. That wise woman was torn inside, and since she believed the delay of the work would bring upon herself the indignation of the most haughty lady, and she feared that violating the most holy feast by forbidden labor would become a matter of divine vengeance. Therefore, looking at her young companion in the work, she said: 'What do you decide — between the pressure of this work and the feast of holy King Edward?' For staying idle is harmful, but I think working on such a great feast is dangerous. The young woman, smiling, said: 'Is this the Edward whom this rustic crowd at Westminster reveres as king?' I ask — what is it to me, and to him?' Let others be idle with their songs, or mourn the dead, or honor him — I won't abandon work I've started for him any more than I would for any common rustic, if you order it. The lady was terrified, and her heart burned — the fire boiling within her burst out into a voice of rebuke and indignation, and as if she had been anticipated by a diabolical spirit, she struck the blasphemous woman with the harshest words.
Sudden Judgment
The blasphemer is struck with paralysis and a twisted mouth, then borne by boat to Edward's tomb where vigils and prayers are offered.
The attendant was laughing, and as she mocked her mistress's simplicity, she piled blasphemy upon blasphemy, when suddenly, in front of many bystanders, she was seized with a paralytic disease, and her blasphemous mouth was twisted back, all the way to her right ear, robbing her of the use of the tongue she had abused: her lips foam, her teeth grind, and she dries up, and with a wretched writhing of her limbs, her whole body is wracked. When the young woman's mother of the household saw that this had happened by God's righteous judgment, grief gave way to indignation, and mourning to anger. She wept, and all her household with her, and the one who had rebuked the blasphemer now pities her, suffering so many torments and enduring such unbearable pain. The matter became known to the city. Many ran to the scene, either to console the attendant or to marvel at her. But when they asked what needed to be done, a certain person, venerable enough as she appeared, stood by and urged that the wretched woman be placed on a boat and carried to the most holy body of the very king she had blasphemed, since by his merits she would receive the remedy for the injury she had inflicted on herself and had felt as so grievous a punishment. She spoke, and it was done. The unhappy woman was carried to the holy king's tomb, and when a candle had been lit to his measure, her mistress pressed on with vigils and prayers.
Night of Pain, Dawn of Mercy
Through a night of torment, prayers rise from the household and the monastery, and at evening prayer the woman is healed and her mouth restored.
There was great grief and lamentation around her, because the pain she suffered seemed beyond healing — her worst wound. The one hope of all was Edward's holiness — he had learned from the Lord Jesus to repay good for evil, love for hatred. So she was tormented the whole night through, while the others wept and prayed. The brotherssss of the monastery were praying for her too, and their prior had solemn litanies said over her with great devotion. In the sight of the most devout king, prayer and sickness struggled together, the guilt of the sinful servant woman and the faith of the compassionate lady, the weight of the crime and the depth of the pain. At last, through the merits of the blessed king, that mercy which is always destined to be conquered conquered Jesus, and soon, meeting the weakened woman with truth, it softened the sentence she had dictated with her own gentleness. And so, when the pain had dragged on through the night and into the day, at the hour when the sacred feast of that day was being closed with evening praise, among the voices of those singing psalms and the groans of those praying, suddenly restored to her senses, she looked around at those standing by, wept in wonder, and asked where she was, what she had suffered, where she had been carried, and what had caused such great pain — once speech returned to her. For the mouth that the disease had twisted back to its natural position, was restored at once to its former shape and to health.
Tears and Praise
The healed woman confesses with deep contrition, all praise God's mercy and judgment, and she returns home forever changed in reverence for Edward.
But when he heard about everything that had happened, he burst into tears; mouth, tongue, mind, and heart resounded with confession, and frequent sighs betrayed the deeper contrition within. Then those who were present were singing of mercy and judgment to the Lord — the Lord who strikes and heals, puts to death and gives life, leads down to the depths and brings back again. She, giving thanks to God and to his most blessed servant Edward, returned safely to her own home when her lady was restored. From then on, whenever she heard the name of the glorious king, she was seized by such great fear that paleness would strike her face and trembling would grip her other limbs.
Read the original Latin
Sanctissimus Eliseus propheta a pueris plus quadraginta derisus, sua maledictione ultus injuriam, universos bestiis tradidit puniendos. Magum impiissimum Helymam apostolos blasphemantem beatus Paulus subita caecitate damnavit. Injuriam igitur sanctis suis illatam in se redundare Christus declarat: Qui vos, inquiens, audit me audit, et qui vos spernit me spernit. Hoc in suo Dominus Jesus ostendit Edwardo, ejus detrahentes sanctitati cum magna severitate puniens, obsequentes ei beneficiorum collatione remunerans. Erat in civitate matrona nobilis, Mathildis nomine, artis purpurariae peritissima, quae regum divitumque vestes ornare auro, illustrare gemmis, picturis et floribus opere polymito variare consueverat. Commiserat ei opus non mediocris pretii nobilissima quaedam ac ditissima femina, quae comiti Gloverniae nuptum tradita paulo minor a regina habebatur, caeterisque per Angliam comitissis sicut divitiis, ita cultu vestium nitebatur excedere. Instabat quotidie non solum ut artificiose, sed etiam ut celeriter, omnia complerentur. Aderat interea beati regis et martyris Ed.
hujus nostri principis patrui, praeclara solemnitas, qui ab impiis sine culpa peremptus, creditur innocentiae martyrio coronatus. Fluctuabat animo sapiens illa mulier, et cum operis dilationem superbissimae feminae indignationem sibi crederet parituram, et sanctissimam festivitatem labore prohibito violare divinae ultionis timeret esse materiam. Respiciens igitur sociam operis adolescentulam: «Quid tu, inquit, inter laboris hujus necessitatem et sancti regis Edwardi festivitatem decernis? Nam vacare dispendiosum, operari autem in tanta festivitate arbitror periculosum.» Subridens juvencula: «Istene est Edwardus quem apud Westmonasterium haec rustica multitudo veneratur ut regem? Rogo quid mihi et illi? vacent alii et suis cantibus vel plangant mortuum vel honorent, ego non magis pro eo quam pro rustico quolibet inceptum opus si jusseris praetermittam.» Expavit domina et incaluit cor ejus et in meditatione ejus ignis exaestuans erupit in vocem increpationis et indignationis, et quasi diabolico praeventam spiritu blasphemam durissimis sermonibus verberaret.
Ridebat pedisequa, et dominae suae simplicitatem irridens, blasphemiam blasphemiis cumulabat; cum subito multis astantibus paralysi morbo corripitur, et os blasphemum usque ad dexteram aurem retortum eam officio linguae quo fuerat abusa privavit: spumant labia, stridet dentibus et arescit, miserabilique membrorum sinuamine corpus omne torquetur. Haec cum materfamilias juvenculae cerneret justo Dei judicio contigisse, dolor indignationi, luctus irae successit. Flebat illa et domus ejus tota, et quae objurgaverat blasphemantem, miseratur tot tormenta et tam intolerabilia patientem. Res innotuit civitati. Accurrunt multi, aut dominam consolaturi, aut pedisequam admiraturi. Quaerenti autem quid facto opus sit, astat persona quaedam satis ut videbatur veneranda, hortabatur ut impositam navi miseram ad ipsius quem blasphemaverat corpus sanctissimum deportarent, ejus meritis recepturam remedium, ob cujus injuriam illatum sibi senserat tam immane supplicium. Dixit, et factum est ita. Delata est ad sancti regis sepulcrum mulier infelix, accensoque ad ejus mensuram cereo, domina ejus vigiliis et orationibus insistebat.
Luctus et ejulatus multus circa illam, quoniam insanabilis videbatur dolor ejus, pessima plaga illius. Una et sola spes omnium pietas Edwardi, qui didicerat a Domino Jesu retribuere bona pro malis, dilectionem pro odio. Torquebatur ergo tota nocte illa, caeteris flentibus et orantibus. Orabant et pro ea fratres monasterii, quorum praepositus solemnes super eam litanias cum magna devotione edidit. Pugnabant in conspectu piissimi regis oratio et aegritudo, iniquitas famulae peccatricis et fides dominae miserantis, magnitudo criminis et multitudo doloris. Vicit tandem Jesum meritis beati regis illa a qua vinci solet misericordia, quae mox in languida obvians veritati sententiam quam illa dictaverat sua lenitate temperavit. Itaque cum in dolore nocti continuasset et diem, hora qua laudibus vespertinis sacra illius festivitas diei claudebatur, inter psallentium voces et gemitus orantium subito reddita sibi sanitate intuebatur astantes, flentes admirabatur, ubi esset, quid passa, quo delata, quae tanti doloris causa sermone recepto requirit. Os quippe quod morbus contraxerat, ad naturalia loca reversum, formae pristinae simul et sanitati donatur.
Audiens autem cuncta quae acciderant erupit in lacrymas; os, lingua, mens, sensus confessionem personant, et interiorem contritionem crebra suspiria prodiderunt. Tunc misericordiam et judicium cantabant qui aderant Domino, qui percutit et sanat, mortificat et vivificat, deducit ad inferos et reducit. Illa vero gratias agens Deo et ejus beatissimo servo Edwardo, cum domina sua incolumis remeavit ad propria. Quandocunque deinceps nomen gloriosi regis audiebat, tanto corripiebatur timore, ut pallor vultum offenderet et caetera membra tremor occuparet.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Acts.13.8-Acts.13.11 — But Elymas the magician (for that is how his name is interpreted) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Acts.13.9 — But Saul, who is also Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him Acts.13.10 — and said, "O son of the devil, full of all deceit and all fraud, enemy of all righteousness, will you not stop making crooked the straight ways of the Lord?" Acts.13.11 — And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a time. And immediately a mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.
- ↩Luke.10.16 — The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me; but the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.
Notes
- 1 ↩'opere polymito' is a rare phrase; 'polymitus' suggests varied or many-colored woven work. Rendered as 'woven work' to keep the sense of intricate textile craft.
- 2 ↩'Gloverniae' is a place name (probably Gloucester/Gloucestershire); rendered as 'Gloverne' as a plausible anglicization. 'nuptum tradita' is an unusual form meaning 'given in marriage.'
Aelred of Rievaulx, Vita Sancti Edwardi Regis et Confessoris companion
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