Item de eodem.
Albert's Healing from Disfigurement
Brother Albert suffers a disfiguring illness that causes him to lose all his hair, but after tearful prayer God heals him completely in a single night.
The same brother Albert fell at a certain time into an illness from which the hairs of his head and his eyebrows were completely torn out. This produced in him so great a disfigurement that no one wished to associate with him. Distressed, he tearfully asked the Lord to free him from the bond of this command, or at least to snatch him away from the land above.1 That very night he was healed by God, and his hair was restored in such a way that no trace of the past disfigurement could be seen.
Albert's Eucharistic Miracle in the Field
While away on campaign, Albert longs to receive the Body of Christ and, through fervent prayer, is granted a miraculous appearance of the Eucharist in the form of a host.
Likewise, concerning the same. It also happened afterwards that while the same brother Albert was with other brothers in the army against the enemies of the faith, on the day when the brothers and other religious were accustomed to receive the sacred Communion of the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, he withdrew from the others and, with a troubled heart, sighing with tears, said: 'O Lord Jesus Christ, if I were now at home, having first sent up many prayers, I would receive your Body.'2 When he had said this, the Body of the Lord immediately appeared in the form of a host, just as it is administered in the church. He said: 'Lord Jesus Christ, if this offering is your true Body, let it pass to me.' And opening his mouth, it entered, and with inestimable joy he received it.34
Wolveramus's Year of Demonic Assault
Brother Wolveramus endures a full year of nightly demonic apparitions and temptations, but through steadfast perseverance in prayer he overcomes the devil, who retreats in defeat.
At the same time in the aforesaid castle there was a brother Wolveramus the Saxon, who, having made his profession in the order of the Teutonic house and wishing to advance from virtue to virtue, found the devil envying his happiness and striving by every means he could to hinder him.5 And so it happened that when the same brother Wolveramus rose in the first part of the night to pray, the devil appeared to him visibly, and this went on, night after night, for the course of a full year — the devil appearing to him in various forms and troubling him with all manner of schemes. But he resisted manfully, remaining steadfast and persevering in the service of God. So when the year had passed and the devil had made no headway through this deception, he stopped, confounded, and no longer dared to appear.
The Glorious Leadership of Brother Meneko
Brother Meneko of Querenvorde, master of Prussia for eleven years, is praised for his magnanimity, daring undertakings, and the fear he inspired in all his adversaries.
234 <227> About brother Meneko, master of the land of Prussia. Brother Meneko of Querenvorde, a Saxon, master of Prussia, presided for eleven years. How glorious he was in his office — his magnificent deeds bear witness, as follows here. He was altogether magnanimous. For he dared to undertake a task so daunting that others feared even to think of it. So that all his adversaries feared him, and neither fortifications nor the distance of places could shield them from his vengeance.
Read the original Latin
Idem frater Albertus incidit quodam tempore in egritudinem, de qua crines capitis sui et supercilia funditus sunt evulsi. Hoc generavit in eo tantam deformitatem, quod nullus voluit cum eo conversari. Unde turbatus cum lacrymis petivit a domino, ut de vinculo hujus imperii absolveret eum, aut certe desuper terram eriperet. In ipsa nocte curatus fuit a deo, et restituti crines sic, quod preterite deformitatis nullum vestigium appareret. 232 <225> Item de eodem. Accidit eciam postea, quod dum idem frater Albertus cum aliis fratribus esset in exercitu contra hostes fidei, eo die, quo fratres et alii religiosi communionem sacram corporis domini nostri Jesu Gristi sumere consueverunt, elongavit se ab aliis, et turbato corde cum lacrimis suspirans ait: o domine Jesu Cri ste, si nunc essem domi, premissis multis oracionibus sumerem corpus tuum. Quo dicto statim apparuit corpus domini in forma oblate, sicut ministratur in dixit: domine Jesu Criste, si oblata hec est tuum verum corpus, transeat ad me, et aperiens os suuma, intravit, et cum inestimabili gaudio sumpsit illud. Eodem tempore in dicto Castro fuit frater Wolveramus Saxo, qui dum professionem fecissetb in ordine domus Theutonice, et vellet proficere de virtute in virtutem, dyabolus invidens felicitati sue nitebatur modis, quibus poteratc, impedire.
Unde accidit, quod dum idem frater Wolveramus in prima nocte surgeret ad orandum, dyabolus apparuit ei visibiliter, et hoc et iste et ille continuaverunt singulis noctibus per circulum unius anni, sic quod dyabolus in diversis formis apparuit ei, et variis machinacionibus ipsum inquietavit, et ille viriliter restitit, immobilis in dei servicio perseverans. Revoluto itaque anno cum dya bolus in illusione hac non proficeret, confusus destitit, et comparere amplius non audebat. 234 <227> De fratre Menekone magistro terre Prussie. Frater Meneko de Querenvorde Saxo magister Prussie xm prefuit xi annis. Quam gloriosus iste fueritd in officio suo, testantur facta magnifica, que sequuntur. Totus fuit magnanimus. Audebat enim aggredi rem arduara, quam alius timuit cogitare. Unde formidabant ipsum omnes adversarii ejus, sic quod nec municiones, nec locorum distancia ipsos a vindicta sua defendere potuerunt.
Notes
- 1 ↩desuper terram eriperet — the phrase is obscure; it may mean 'snatch him up from the earth' (i.e., take him to heaven) or 'snatch him from the land above.' The translation follows the most natural reading of desuper + eriperet as a plea for death or removal from earthly life.
- 2 ↩Gristi is a scribal variant of Christi; normalized and translated as Christ.
- 3 ↩The phrase in dixit appears to be a scribal corruption or intrusive element; the translation treats the clause as a direct continuation of the narrative.
- 4 ↩suuma is a scribal variant of suum; normalized and translated as 'his.'
- 5 ↩fecissetb and poteratc are scribal variants; normalized as fecisset and poterat.
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