Item de eodem.
The Peasant's Vision
A simple, God-fearing peasant in Prussia sees a vision of the brothers fighting the Lithuanians and calls his household to witness it.
A certain peasant who worked as a thresher — a simple and upright man who feared God, living in the land of Prussia — saw exactly the same kind of vision. While he was standing in front of the doors of his house, he saw clearly in the air the brothers fighting with the Lithuanians, and he called his household to him and said: 'Surely you can see how our lords' brothers are fighting with unbelievers?'
The Battle and the Martyrs
The peasant sees the battle at Kulm, the brothers being killed, and the Virgin Mary and angels carrying their souls heavenward, noting the prominent souls of Brother Hermann the Saracen and Brother de Glisbergk.
Now the Prussians and Livonians flee; now the brothers, and the few who are with them, stand in battle defending themselves manfully, surrounded on all sides by enemies. Alas, now they are being killed! Now I see the blessed Virgin Mary and the holy virgins and the angels of God ascending into heaven with their souls. Among those souls, as each observer saw, two were more prominent than the others: they were the souls of Brother Hermann, called the Saracen, and of a certain brother called de Glisbergk, whose role in the building of the castle of Christburg was mentioned above.
The Salvation of the Fallen
Both observers agree that all fallen souls were saved except one, and the text reflects on God's providence in permitting suffering so that martyrs receive their reward and survivors grow stronger in faith.
Both observers agreed on this as well: that all the souls whose bodies had fallen in this battle at Kulm were saved, except for one. That soul, which had been the cause of its own damnation — Christ, through whom nothing on earth happens without cause — permitted this past plague and the future apostasy to come upon his people, so that those who were killed might receive their merited reward in heaven, while those who survived, placed in dangers, might grow stronger and stronger in faith and put the unbelievers to shame. For the strength of faith is endangered in times of safety, and in times of danger it is secure — and you may understand the same to be true in good works.
Read the original Latin
Eandem omnino similem visionem vidit quidam rusticus triturator, vir Sim plex et rectus ac timens deum in terra Prussie. Dum staret ante fores domus sue, vidit manifeste in aere fratres cum Letliowinis bellantes, et vocavit ad se familiam suam et ait: nonne videtis, quomodo dominid nostri fratres pugnant cum infidelibus? modo fugiunt tarn Prutheni quam Lyvonienses; modo fratres et pauci cum eis, stant in bello se viriliter defendentes, undique vallati hostibus; heu modo occiduntur, nunc video beatam virginem Mariam et sanctas Vir gines et angelos dei cum animabus ipsorum ascendere in celum. Inter lias ani mas, ut uterque vidit, due fuerunt eminenciores aliis, que fuerunt anime fratris Hermanni, dicti Sarraceni, et cujusdam fratris dicti de Glisbergk, de cujus statu in edificacione castri Cristburgk superius est premissum. Concordabant eciam ambo in hoc, quod omnes anime, quarum corpora in hoc conflictu Curonie ceciderunt, salvate fuerunt preter unam. Que fuerat causae damnacionis sue, nesCristus, per quem nihil in terra fit sine causa, hanc plagam preteritam et futuram apostasie in populo suo fieri permisit, ut hii interfecti mercedem promeritam reciperent in celis, superstites autem in periculis constituti magis ac magis convalescerent in fide, et confunderent non credentes, quia virtus fidei in securitate periclitatur, et in periculis est secura, et intelligas in operibus bonis idem.
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